Item5AAGlenClovaHotelCommitteeReport

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 25/03/2022

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHORITY

DEVEL­OP­MENT PROPOSED:

Erec­tion of 8No. Hol­i­day Lodges and Plant/​Storage Build­ing, Form­a­tion of Vehicu­lar Access, Park­ing and Turn­ing Areas, Install­a­tion of Sewage Treat­ment Plant and Sur­face Water Soakaways at Land North West Of Clova Hotel Glen Clova

REF­ER­ENCE: 2021/0168/DET

APPLIC­ANT: Mr Hugh Niven

DATE CALLED-IN: 24 May 2021

RECOM­MEND­A­TION: Refuse

CASE OFFICER: Alan Atkins — Plan­ning Officer

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 25/03/2022

CNPA Plan­ning Committee

Applic­a­tion Site

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 25/03/2022

SITE DESCRIP­TION, PRO­POS­AL AND HISTORY

Site Descrip­tion

1. The pro­posed devel­op­ment site is loc­ated along an exist­ing track to the north­w­est of the Glen Clova Hotel and cov­ers an area of 4160 square metres. The site com­prises of upland grass­land, char­ac­ter­ised by its open­ness between the wood­land sur­round­ing the Clova Hotel and its build­ings and a plant­a­tion to the west.

2. The site sits above the enclosed farm­land and has remains of fences and stone walls and lin­ear groups of trees to the south and south­east. This site can be accessed via the B995, which leads to Kirriemuir, loc­ated 15m to the south.

Pro­pos­al

1. The draw­ings and doc­u­ments asso­ci­ated with this applic­a­tion are lis­ted below and are avail­able on the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity web­site unless noted otherwise:

http://​www​.eplan​ningcnpa​.co​.uk/​o​n​line- applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=QTAZ3MSI0CH00

Title	Draw­ing Num­ber	Date on Plan*	Date Received
PLANS
Plan — Loc­a­tion Plan	382 L (90) 001	01/03/21	24/05/21
Plan — Exist­ing Block Plan	382 L (90) 002	01/03/21	24/05/21
Plan — Pro­posed Site Plan	L (90) 004 Revi­sion B	01/11/21	08/11/21
Plan — Land Own­er­ship Plan	382 L (90) 001	01/03/21	24/05/21
Plan — Pro­posed Block Plan	L (90) 003 REV A	01/09/21	29/09/21
Plan — Revised Plans and Elevations	L (20) 004		11/11/21
Plan — Pro­posed Plan Room and Store	382L (20) 004	01/02/20	24/05/21
SUP­PORT­ING INFORMATION
Design State­ment	382⁄3.1		24/05/21
Plan­ning Sup­port­ing Statement		01/04/21	24/05/21
Eco­lo­gic­al Assessment			11/11/21
Pho­tomont­age	382 SK002		24/05/21
Pho­tomont­age	SK 001 REVI­SION B		11/11/21

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 25/03/2022

*Where no spe­cif­ic day of month has been provided on the plan, the sys­tem defaults to the Ist of the month.

1. Plans of the pro­pos­als are included in Appendix 1.

2. The pro­posed devel­op­ment is for eight new hol­i­day lodges loc­ated north­w­est of the Glen Clova Hotel. The lodges have been designed as indi­vidu­al units and would be ancil­lary accom­mod­a­tion to the exist­ing hotel and lodge accom­mod­a­tion. They have been sited in two groups of four. The lodges are single storey struc­tures fin­ished in fibre cement weather­board clad­ding (grey/​green and grey/​blue) with pitched roofs clad in dark grey cor­rug­ated steel. Each lodge will have bal­conies pro­ject­ing from the south facing elev­a­tions. A park­ing bay for each group of four lodges will be loc­ated to the north and south end of the pro­posed devel­op­ment. A plant room will be loc­ated at the south­east end of the east­ern group, also con­struc­ted with fibre cement clad­ding, facing brick, a cor­rug­ated steel roof, and tim­ber doors.

3. The lodges are loc­ated on the ter­race provided by an exist­ing access track serving an estate prop­erty at Park­head Cot­tage. A new wider track will be con­struc­ted above the lodges to replace the exist­ing access to that prop­erty and the lodges. Fol­low­ing com­ments from the CNPA on the lay­out and design of the devel­op­ment, seek­ing to reduce the lin­ear effect of the devel­op­ment across the open slope through recon­fig­ur­a­tion or a reduc­tion in the num­ber of units, the applic­ant mod­i­fied the lay­out slightly so that rather than four blocks of two semi-detached lodges spaced evenly across the slope there are now two lines of four lodges. They have also pro­posed some tree plant­ing to the south to break view from the glen road.

His­tory

1. In June 2020, the CNPA approved ret­ro­spect­ive plan­ning per­mis­sion (ref 2020/0068/DET) for the upgrade of a track to the east of the applic­a­tion. In 2019 the CNPA served an enforce­ment notice requir­ing the remov­al of a sec­tion of unau­thor­ised track above the applic­a­tion (ref 2017/0001/ENF). In April 2018, Angus Coun­cil approved an applic­a­tion (ref 17/00712/FULL) to con­vert the former vil­lage Hall into four hotel staff accom­mod­a­tion units.

Hab­it­at Reg­u­la­tions Appraisal

1. An Hab­it­ats Reg­u­la­tions Apprais­al (HRA) has been under­taken to con­sider the effects of the pro­pos­al upon the con­ser­va­tion object­ives of the European Site of the Cairngorms Spe­cial Pro­tec­tion Area. The full apprais­al is attached at Appendix 2.

2. The apprais­al con­cludes that provid­ing the mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures are imple­men­ted for the devel­op­ment, then the con­ser­va­tion object­ives will be met and there­fore there will not be an adverse effect on site integ­rity for the Cairngorms SPA and River South Esk SAC.

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 25/03/2022

DEVEL­OP­MENT PLAN CONTEXT

Policies

Nation­al Policy	Scot­tish Plan­ning Policy 2014
Stra­tegic Policy	Cairngorms Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan 2017 — 2022
Loc­al Plan Policy	Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan (2021)
Those policies rel­ev­ant to the assess­ment of this applic­a­tion are marked with a cross
POLICY I	NEW HOUS­ING DEVELOPMENT
POLICY 2	SUP­PORT­ING ECO­NOM­IC GROWTH	X
POLICY 3	DESIGN AND PLACEMAKING	X
POLICY 4	NAT­UR­AL HERITAGE	X
POLICY 5	LAND­SCAPE	X
POLICY 6	THE SIT­ING AND DESIGN OF DIGIT­AL COM­MU­NIC­A­TIONS EQUIPMENT
POLICY 7	RENEW­ABLE ENERGY
POLICY 8	OPEN SPACE, SPORT AND RECREATION
POLICY 9	CUL­TUR­AL HERITAGE	X
POLICY 10	RESOURCES	X
POLICY 11	DEVELOPER CON­TRI­BU­TIONS

1. All new devel­op­ment pro­pos­als require to be assessed in rela­tion to policies con­tained in the adop­ted Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan. The full word­ing of policies can be found at:

https://​cairngorms​.co​.uk/​w​p​-​c​o​n​t​e​n​t​/​u​p​l​o​a​d​s​/​2​0​2​1​/​0​3​/​C​N​P​A​-​L​D​P​-​2​0​2​1​-​w​e​b.pdf

Plan­ning Guidance

1. Sup­ple­ment­ary guid­ance also forms part of the Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan and provides more details about how to com­ply with the policies. Guid­ance that is rel­ev­ant to this applic­a­tion is marked with a cross.

Policy I	New Hous­ing Devel­op­ment Non-Stat­utory Guid­ance (2015)
Policy 2	Sup­port­ing Eco­nom­ic Growth Non-Stat­utory Guidance	X
Policy 3	Sus­tain­able Design Non-Stat­utory Guid­ance (2015)	X
Policy 4	Nat­ur­al Her­it­age Sup­ple­ment­ary Guidance	X
Policy 5	Land­scape Non-Stat­utory Guidance	X
Policy 7	Renew­able Energy Sup­ple­ment­ary Guidance
Policy 8	Sport and Recre­ation Non-Stat­utory Guidance
Policy 9	Cul­tur­al Her­it­age Non-Stat­utory Guidance	X
Policy 10	Resources Non-Stat­utory Guidance	X
Policy 11	Developer Con­tri­bu­tions Sup­ple­ment­ary Guid­ance (2015)

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 25/03/2022

CON­SULTA­TIONS

Sum­mary of the main issues raised by consultees

1. Scot­tish Water has no objec­tions, how­ever, the applic­ant should be aware that this does not con­firm that the pro­posed devel­op­ment can cur­rently be ser­viced. Accord­ing to recent records there is no pub­lic Scot­tish Water infra­struc­ture with­in the vicin­ity of this pro­posed devel­op­ment there­fore, it is advised that the applic­ant should invest­ig­ate private options. Accord­ing to recent records there is no pub­lic wastewa­ter infra­struc­ture with­in the vicin­ity of this pro­posed devel­op­ment, and there­fore it is advised that the applic­ant should invest­ig­ate private treat­ment options.

2. NatureScot have agreed with the con­clu­sions of the Hab­it­ats Reg­u­la­tions Appraisal.

3. Angus Coun­cil Envir­on­ment­al Health Team has noted that this applic­a­tion will include the erec­tion of 8 hol­i­day lodges that will be loc­ated to the north­w­est of Arntib­ber, and that the lodges will be con­nec­ted to a private water sup­ply. How­ever, no details about the private water sup­ply have been provided in terms of the pro­posed infra­struc­ture, water source, water treat­ment and stor­age on the site. Envir­on­ment­al Health are aware that there are two sep­ar­ate private water sup­plies at this loc­a­tion, one derived from sev­er­al spring sup­plies which is treated at the Glen Clova Hotel and lodges to the north­east of the hotel and the oth­er from the Brandy Burn, where the water is treated at each prop­erty on the sup­ply. Each source sup­ply has a sep­ar­ate col­lec­tion tank to ensure that enough water can be stored for emer­gency should there be an inter­rup­tion to the water supply.

4. In terms of the Private Water (Scot­land) Reg­u­la­tions, both these sup­plies are classed as for com­mer­cial use and there­fore are annu­ally sampled and risk assessed. To ensure that the lodges are sup­plied with a whole­some water sup­ply that is suf­fi­cient for the cur­rent use, it would be neces­sary for the applic­ant to provide fur­ther details in rela­tion to the water sup­ply for the pro­posed lodges so it is clear which sup­ply will be used. It is, there­fore, reques­ted that the fol­low­ing addi­tion­al inform­a­tion be provided:

a) Details of the source sup­ply and pro­posed infra­struc­ture, togeth­er with a schem­at­ic draw­ing show­ing all oth­er prop­er­ties served by the sup­ply b) Details of the last water ana­lys­is sample res­ults, togeth­er with a water treat­ment plant to show how any defects on the sup­ply will be suit­ably treated c) Details of any water stor­age, this should ensure that based on max­im­um occu­pancy of each of the lodges that a min­im­um of 200 litres per head per day can be stored in case of emergency.

1. Angus Coun­cil Roads Team has raised no objec­tions to the pro­posed development.

2. Aber­deen­shire Coun­cil Archae­ology Ser­vice (con­trac­ted to Angus Coun­cil) has stated that the pro­posed devel­op­ment area lies with­in the archae­ology site Angus HER NO37SW0119, the remains of set­tle­ment in the form of foot­ings of build­ings and struc­tures. The date of these struc­tures is not known, how­ever, it is assumed they are pre-19^th cen­tury. While sev­er­al the fea­tures are out­side the devel­op­ment boundary,

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 25/03/2022

some will be dir­ectly impacted by the pro­posed works – espe­cially those closest to the exist­ing track. In terms of pro­tec­tion of archae­olo­gic­al fea­tures such as these, the options are pre­ser­va­tion in situ (reas­sess and redesign the pro­posed scheme to avoid the vis­ible upstand­ing remains) or pre­ser­va­tion by record (the pro­posed design would remain the same, but the archae­olo­gic­al mit­ig­a­tion required would increase).

1. The ser­vice advise that If the applic­a­tion is minded for approv­al, an appro­pri­ate con­di­tion would be required for an archae­olo­gic­al writ­ten scheme of invest­ig­a­tion (WSI) to be under­taken, for writ­ten approv­al, and a sub­sequent pro­gramme of archae­olo­gic­al works to be car­ried out in accord­ance with the approved WSI. The WSI would include details of how the record­ing and recov­ery of archae­olo­gic­al resources found with­in the applic­a­tion site shall be under­taken, and how any updates, if required, to the writ­ten scheme of invest­ig­a­tion will be provided through­out the imple­ment­a­tion of the pro­gramme of archae­olo­gic­al works. Should the archae­olo­gic­al works reveal the need for post excav­a­tion ana­lys­is the devel­op­ment shall not be brought into use unless a post-excav­a­tion research design (PERD) for the ana­lys­is, pub­lic­a­tion and dis­sem­in­a­tion of res­ults and archive depos­ition is sub­mit­ted for approv­al. The PERD shall be car­ried out in com­plete accord­ance with the approved details. The pur­pose of this con­di­tion would be to safe­guard and record the archae­olo­gic­al poten­tial of the area. A full spe­cific­a­tion for archae­olo­gic­al works can be provided by this ser­vice at pre-determ­in­a­tion or post-determ­in­a­tion stage.

2. CNPA Out­door Access Officer has stated that an assess­ment of the above applic­a­tion has been car­ried out in rela­tion to impacts on core paths, rights of way and the exer­cise of respons­ible access rights. There is a core path (EC6) near this devel­op­ment pro­pos­al, the path to the rear of the exist­ing hotel to Loch Brandy. The plans do not seem to impact dir­ectly on this route. Fur­ther­more, the plans indic­ate that the exist­ing track from the rear of the build­ings will be used, this track extends up to towards Ben Reid along the Cor­rie Burn. It is likely that the pub­lic may use this track as part of a wider walk or moun­tain bike tak­ing in both Loch Brandy, Ben Reid and the Snub. It is reques­ted that pub­lic access is main­tained along this track and that any gates have suit­able side gates or gaps. Such pro­vi­sion would also bene­fit the cli­ents using the lodges.

3. CNPA Land­scape Officer has stated the land­scape in which the applic­a­tion is loc­ated pos­sesses some capa­city for the type of devel­op­ment being pro­posed, influ­enced by the cluster of exist­ing build­ings around the Glen Clova Hotel. Non­ethe­less, it is assessed that the num­ber, sit­ing, and design of chalets cur­rently pro­posed are inap­pro­pri­ate and would res­ult in sig­ni­fic­ant adverse effects on the land­scape char­ac­ter, visu­al amen­ity, and Spe­cial Land­scape Qual­it­ies (SLQ) of the Nation­al Park.

4. The pro­posed devel­op­ment would be clearly vis­ible by people trav­el­ling along the minor road through Glen Clova, par­tic­u­larly when trav­el­ling north­w­est, from where the chalets would appear in key views look­ing along the glen and towards the focal fea­ture of Ben Reid/​The Laird’s Cham­ber. It would also be vis­ible from tracks and paths upon the sur­round­ing hill slopes, and by loc­al res­id­ents, includ­ing from Brandy Burn Cot­tage and Brandy Burn House. Based on the inform­a­tion cur­rently sub­mit­ted, it is assessed that the pro­pos­al would res­ult in some sig­ni­fic­ant adverse land­scape and visu­al effects. The sit­ing of the pro­posed chalets would appear ​‘out of char­ac­ter’. This

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 25/03/2022

is because they would appear neither sim­il­ar in sit­ing to exist­ing tour­ist accom­mod­a­tion clustered around the hotel and/​or with­in wood­land, nor sim­il­ar to the tra­di­tion­al cot­tages or out­build­ings dot­ted through the sur­round­ing open land­scape. They would col­lect­ively cre­ate a rib­bon of built devel­op­ment which would dis­tract from exist­ing foci in the landscape.

1. The pro­posed archi­tec­tur­al design of the chalets would con­trast strongly to the loc­al ver­nacu­lar with­in open parts of the glen and would not appear to relate to the dis­tinct land­scape char­ac­ter, visu­al amen­ity or SLQs. The chalets would appear incon­gru­ous in archi­tec­tur­al design, includ­ing form, mater­i­als, and colour.

2. Fur­ther­more, the pro­posed new access track, drain­age ditch and park­ing bays would res­ult in loc­al land­scape and visu­al effects, both indi­vidu­ally and cumu­lat­ively with oth­er tracks in the area, par­tic­u­larly due to the steep cross slope which would mean that cut­ting and/​or embank­ments are likely to be required.

3. It is advised that the applic­ant recon­siders and revises the sit­ing and design of the pro­posed development.

4. CNPA Eco­logy Officer has stated that the impact on the nat­ur­al her­it­age of the site will not be sig­ni­fic­ant. No trees will be affected by the pro­pos­als, with the nearest tree being 15m from the pro­posed con­struc­tion site. There are stands of trees in the vicin­ity of the devel­op­ment site, but none of these con­sti­tute ancient wood­land. There have been rep­tiles (adder and liz­ard) recor­ded in the vicin­ity of the pro­posed devel­op­ment site. If the exist­ing stone walls are removed, or altered to enable con­struc­tion, this could lead to hab­it­at loss, and an effect on rep­tiles at the devel­op­ment site. To avoid adverse effects on rep­tiles and ensure com­pli­ance with pro­tec­ted spe­cies legis­la­tion, a rep­tile spe­cies pro­tec­tion plan fol­low­ing NatureScot guid­ance should be sub­mit­ted for approv­al in writ­ing by CNPA before any ground pre­par­a­tion or con­struc­tion works commence.

5. Breed­ing birds (par­tic­u­larly waders) could use the sur­round­ing field for nest­ing and for­aging, with tree nest­ing birds poten­tially using the trees on, and in the vicin­ity of, the pro­posed devel­op­ment site. There­fore, there could be some risk of dis­turb­ance. In terms of oth­er ground and tree nest­ing birds, there may be a mod­er­ate effect at the devel­op­ment site, and imme­di­ate vicin­ity. How­ever, this would be lim­ited to the breed­ing sea­son, and affected by con­struc­tion only. To avoid adverse effects on breed­ing birds and ensure com­pli­ance with pro­tec­ted spe­cies legis­la­tion, ground pre­par­a­tion and con­struc­tion works should not start dur­ing April to July (inclus­ive). If this is not pos­sible, a pre-start walk over of the site and 200m sur­round­ing area by a suit­ably exper­i­enced (and licensed) eco­lo­gist will be required to identi­fy signs of breed­ing birds and an appro­pri­ate breed­ing bird pro­tec­tion plan sub­mit­ted for approv­al in writ­ing by CNPA before any ground pre­par­a­tion or con­struc­tion works commence.

6. Regard­ing the impact on the water envir­on­ment, there is dir­ect con­nectiv­ity with the river South Esk Spe­cial Area of Con­ser­va­tion (SAC), and, there­fore, the pro­pos­als could have an effect on wider water envir­on­ment. The require­ment for a Con­struc­tion Meth­od State­ment iden­ti­fied in the HRA for the River South Esk SAC would min­im­ise effects on the water environment.

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 25/03/2022

1. The Kirriemuir Land­ward Com­munity Coun­cil has not made any com­ments on the pro­posed development.

REP­RES­ENT­A­TIONS

1. The North East Moun­tain Trust have objec­ted to the devel­op­ment on the basis of land­scape impacts and seek addi­tion­al tree plant­ing to the south of the devel­op­ment to screen view from the road as well plant­ing to the north to screen views from the hills.

APPRAIS­AL

1. The main plan­ning con­sid­er­a­tions are con­sidered to be: the prin­ciple of devel­op­ment; the impact upon land­scape, sit­ing, lay­out and design; envir­on­ment­al impacts; flood risk and water sup­ply; and cul­tur­al heritage.

Prin­ciple of Development

1. Policy 2.2 Tour­ist accom­mod­a­tion of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021 sup­ports pro­pos­als for tour­ist-related accom­mod­a­tion where

a) It has no adverse envir­on­ment­al or amen­ity impacts on the site or neigh­bour­ing areas; and b) It con­trib­utes to/​sup­port the pro­vi­sion of a wider range of vis­it­or accom­mod­a­tion options includ­ing low cost accom­mod­a­tion; and c) It sup­ports or con­trib­utes to a year-round economy.

1. Policy 2.3 Oth­er tour­ism and leis­ure devel­op­ments and Policy 2.4 Oth­er eco­nom­ic activ­ity of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021 also sup­port devel­op­ments that:

a) have no adverse envir­on­ment­al or amen­ity impacts on the site or neigh­bour­ing areas; and b) make a pos­it­ive con­tri­bu­tion to the exper­i­ence of vis­it­ors c) are com­pat­ible or com­ple­ment­ary with exist­ing busi­ness activ­ity in the area d) sup­port the vital­ity and viab­il­ity of the loc­al economy

1. This applic­a­tion for eight hol­i­day lodges seeks to provide addi­tion­al accom­mod­a­tion to sup­port and grow the Clova Hotel busi­ness, tar­get­ing a grow­ing part of the mar­ket for lux­ury accom­mod­a­tion. The pro­posed lodges would provide a form of accom­mod­a­tion that occu­pi­ers would enjoy, with good views across the glen. Clearly, some vis­it­ors may not appre­ci­ate the appear­ance of the new devel­op­ments which will change views from the road up hill and from hills above, but the loc­a­tion of the devel­op­ment is not imme­di­ately beside any pop­u­lar paths or viewpoints.

2. Glen Clova and the Clova Hotel are pop­u­lar des­tin­a­tions year round but the increased capa­city would sup­port the area in the months with few­er day vis­it­ors. The devel­op­ment is clearly com­pat­ible and com­ple­ment­ary with the nearby Hotel and it’s range of accom­mod­a­tion and gen­er­ally, more people stay­ing overnight in the area will

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 25/03/2022

increase rev­en­ue for the Hotel busi­ness and any oth­er ser­vice or activ­ity pro­viders oper­at­ing in the area.

1. On this basis, the prin­ciple is con­sidered likely accord with Policy 2: Sup­port­ing Eco­nom­ic Growth of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021 sub­ject to com­pli­ance with oth­er rel­ev­ant Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan policies that address oth­er envir­on­ment­al or amen­ity impacts in more detail.

Land­scape Impacts

1. Policy 5: Land­scape of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021 pre­sumes against devel­op­ment which does not con­serve and enhance the land­scape char­ac­ter and spe­cial qual­it­ies of the Nation­al Park and in par­tic­u­lar the set­ting of the pro­posed development.

2. The site is char­ac­ter­ised by open upland with extens­ive views of the adja­cent hill­sides, rough graz­ing fields, punc­tu­ated by dry stone dykes and small clusters of trees. There are a num­ber of loc­al tracks and paths in and around the site. The loc­a­tion and char­ac­ter of this site con­trib­ute to the spe­cial land­scape qual­it­ies of the Nation­al Park in par­tic­u­lar ​‘land­scapes both cul­tur­al and nat­ur­al’, ​‘broad farm straths’, ​‘strong jux­ta­pos­i­tion of con­trast­ing land­scapes’, and a ​‘land­scape of lay­ers from inhab­ited strath to remote, unin­hab­ited upland’.

3. There is an exist­ing cluster of hol­i­day accom­mod­a­tion based around the Glen Clova hotel, how­ever, the pro­posed ancil­lary hol­i­day accom­mod­a­tion will be loc­ated to the north­w­est of the hotel along an exist­ing track. The eight lodges will extend along the track between two exist­ing prop­er­ties, Arntib­ber Cot­tage to the east and Park­head Cot­tage to the west.

4. The pro­posed devel­op­ment will be lin­ear in nature, detract­ing from the tra­di­tion­al lay­out of the exist­ing build­ings with­in the loc­al area. Fur­ther­more, giv­en their pos­i­tion­ing on the hill­side, the lodges will be par­tic­u­larly prom­in­ent in con­trast to the exist­ing land­scape char­ac­ter of the site and the sur­round­ing area. The pro­posed devel­op­ment will be clearly vis­ible to those trav­el­ling north­w­est through Glen Clova and the lodges will obstruct key views with­in the loc­al area, par­tic­u­larly the view north to Ben Reid. Fur­ther­more, the lodges will also be vis­ible from the vari­ous tracks and paths in the sur­round­ing hills and by loc­al res­id­ents at the set­tle­ment of Clova. There are a few clusters of exist­ing trees to the south of the site, which, along with the pro­posed tree plant­ing, would offer some screen­ing, how­ever, this would not sig­ni­fic­antly address the pre­dicted land­scape and visu­al effects of the lodges.

5. The applic­ant was encour­aged at pre-applic­a­tion stage and dur­ing the pro­cessing of the applic­a­tion to revise the pro­pos­als and change the lay­out or reduce the num­bers of units with­in the devel­op­ment site in order to reduce the visu­al impact of the devel­op­ment and its impacts on land­scape charter and spe­cial land­scape qual­it­ies. How­ever, the applic­ant main­tains that the pro­ject would not be viable or desir­able with such changes and that the bene­fits to the busi­ness and loc­al eco­nomy out­weigh oth­er impacts. Nev­er­the­less it is worth high­light­ing the advice provided by CNPA to the applic­a­tion at the pre-applic­a­tion stage that:

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 25/03/2022

“..the land­scape pos­sesses some capa­city for devel­op­ment upon the site, but only if the sit­ing and design of this relates closely to the dis­tinct­ive land­scape char­ac­ter, visu­al amen­ity and Spe­cial Land­scape Qual­it­ies of the area. To achieve this, it is strongly recom­men­ded that the applic­ant con­siders a reduced number/​density of lodges and for these to be of a dif­fer­ent archi­tec­tur­al design.

As cur­rently pro­posed, the lodges would appear col­lect­ively as rib­bon devel­op­ment along the glen and their design would appear highly incon­gru­ous in an open and sens­it­ive loc­a­tion. It is advised that the lodges are, instead, sited and designed to relate to the rur­al set­ting and dis­tinct char­ac­ter and SLQs of the loc­al area, includ­ing in archi­tec­tur­al scale, form and mater­i­als, so they con­trib­ute pos­it­ively to the loc­al land­scape for res­id­ents and visitors.”

1. The applic­ant has also presen­ted some inform­a­tion show­ing the lodges in the con­text of a wider wood­land cre­ation scheme that the applic­ant hopes to pro­gress. How­ever, while that scheme would change the char­ac­ter of the land­scape and the back­drop to the devel­op­ment in the medi­um to long term, the scheme is not approved or imple­men­ted and is not pro­posed as part of the plan­ning application.

2. In this instance, the sit­ing of the pro­posed lodges is not con­sidered to be in keep­ing with the char­ac­ter of sim­il­ar exist­ing tour­ist accom­mod­a­tion centred around the Glen Clova Hotel and in the adja­cent wood­land. The pro­posed devel­op­ment is also dif­fer­ent in char­ac­ter to the tra­di­tion­al cot­tages and out­build­ings that can be seen sporad­ic­ally through­out the sur­round­ing land­scape. It will cre­ate a rel­at­ively uni­form rib­bon of devel­op­ment across the open slopes between the wooded areas where devel­op­ment has been focussed to the west of the main group of build­ings. In its cur­rent form and design, the pro­posed devel­op­ment will res­ult in sig­ni­fic­ant adverse effects on the land­scape char­ac­ter, visu­al amen­ity, and spe­cial land­scape qual­it­ies of the Nation­al Park and is there­fore con­sidered to be con­trary to Policy 5: Land­scape of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021.

Sit­ing, Lay­out and Design

1. Policy 3: Design and Place­mak­ing of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021 states that all devel­op­ments must be designed to be sym­path­et­ic to the tra­di­tion­al pat­tern and char­ac­ter of the sur­round­ing area, loc­al ver­nacu­lar, and loc­al dis­tinct­ive­ness, whilst encour­aging innov­a­tion in design and use of mater­i­als. All mater­i­als and land­scap­ing should com­ple­ment the set­ting of the development.

2. The lodges are sited in a lin­ear pat­tern along an exist­ing track in two blocks of four cre­at­ing a form of rib­bon devel­op­ment which is in dir­ect con­trast to the exist­ing dis­persed form of built devel­op­ment with­in this loc­al­ity. Their sit­ing and form would be out of char­ac­ter with the tra­di­tion­al pat­tern of devel­op­ment and the sur­round­ing open land­scape, dis­tract­ing from the exist­ing land­scape focal points with­in the area.

3. In terms of design, the lodges may appear incon­gru­ous giv­en the pro­posed archi­tec­ture and will con­trast with the loc­al ver­nacu­lar due to the chosen com­bin­a­tion of form, mater­i­als, and col­our. The pro­posed extern­al fin­ishes of hori­zont­al col­oured fibre clad­ding and the intro­duc­tion of the covered bal­conies and bal­us­trades will be out of keep­ing with the char­ac­ter and form of devel­op­ment which is loc­al to Glen Clova.

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 25/03/2022

1. Fur­ther­more, the exter­i­or light­ing will increase the land­scape and visu­al effects of the lodges, par­tic­u­larly at night. There have been some amend­ments to the ori­gin­al design of the lodges, includ­ing some screen­ing of the ori­gin­ally exposed brick found­a­tion walls to the south, but these do not res­ult in a sig­ni­fic­ant reduc­tion in the adverse effects of the sit­ing, lay­out, form, and mater­i­als of the lodges which will stand out in con­trast to the land­scape char­ac­ter of the site and wider area.

2. In terms of ser­vi­cing, the devel­op­ment would have suit­able access via the road net­work as well as easy access by foot and cycle to nearby facil­it­ies and activ­it­ies. Water sup­ply and treat­ment facil­it­ies would be suf­fi­cient sub­ject to con­di­tions requir­ing fur­ther detail and waste mater­i­al from the oper­a­tion of the lodges would be man­aged as part of the waste man­age­ment of the wider Clova Hotel business.

3. Giv­en the sit­ing and form, and the scale and design, the pro­posed devel­op­ment of eight lodges will not be sym­path­et­ic to, nor com­ple­ment the sur­round­ing land­scape and will there­fore have an adverse impact on the char­ac­ter and set­ting of Glen Clova. As such the pro­pos­al is con­sidered to be con­trary to Policy 3: Design and Place­mak­ing of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021

Envir­on­ment­al Impacts

1. Policy 4: Nat­ur­al Her­it­age of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021 seeks to ensure that there is no adverse impact upon des­ig­nated areas, pro­tec­ted spe­cies or biod­iversity. Policy 3: Design and Place­mak­ing of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021 also requires devel­op­ments to be designed to cre­ate oppor­tun­it­ies for fur­ther biod­iversity and pro­mote eco­lo­gic­al interest.

2. The pro­posed devel­op­ment presents a risk of impact to sev­er­al pro­tec­ted spe­cies which have been recor­ded loc­ally. The site offers oppor­tun­it­ies for sev­er­al pro­tec­ted spe­cies as demon­strated by exist­ence of loc­al records for bat spe­cies, badger, adder, otter, and ground nest­ing birds includ­ing wad­ing spe­cies. The River South Esk Spe­cial Area of Con­ser­va­tion is approx­im­ately 300m from the site, and has recor­ded pop­u­la­tions of Atlantic sal­mon, otter, and fresh­wa­ter pearl mussel.

3. Fur­ther eco­lo­gic­al sur­veys have been sought and sub­sequently an Eco­lo­gic­al Assess­ment has been sub­mit­ted that provided some fur­ther detail. Giv­en the inform­a­tion avail­able, and low like­li­hood of the site being used by for rest­ing places or dens of breed­ing pro­tec­ted mam­mals, officers con­sider that sus­pens­ive con­di­tions requir­ing pre-com­mence­ment checks for pro­tec­ted mam­mals, the pro­vi­sion of a rep­tile spe­cies pro­tec­tion plan, and Con­struc­tion Meth­od State­ment would address these mat­ters if the applic­a­tion was approved. Simple addi­tion­al meas­ures to pro­mote biod­iversity and eco­lo­gic­al interest could be incor­por­ated with­in the devel­op­ment in an appro­pri­ate land­scape plan which could also be secured through the use of a sus­pens­ive condition.

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 25/03/2022

1. With neces­sary con­di­tions attached to a con­sent, it is con­sidered that the pro­pos­als could com­ply with Policy 4: Nat­ur­al Her­it­age of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021.

Flood Risk and Water Supply

1. Policy 3: Design and Place­mak­ing of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021 sets out the need for new devel­op­ment to be sat­is­fact­or­ily ser­viced and without harm to resources or the environment.

2. Policy 10: Resources of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021 seeks to ensure that sur­face water is dealt with accord­ingly and to ensure that all new devel­op­ment is free from sig­ni­fic­ant risk of flood­ing and that there be no sig­ni­fic­ant adverse impact on exist­ing or private water supplies.

3. In terms of water sup­ply, the pro­pos­al design state­ment this will either be from exist­ing burns or bore­holes. Angus Coun­cil Envir­on­ment­al Health Team, have no objec­tion in prin­ciple but because no details have been provided of the infra­struc­ture of the water sup­ply, its source, or any on site water treat­ment and stor­age facil­it­ies, they require a sus­pens­ive con­di­tion a sus­pens­ive con­di­tion to require the sub­mis­sion and approv­al of this inform­a­tion pri­or to devel­op­ment. In addi­tion, they require a schem­at­ic draw­ing should also be sub­mit­ted, show­ing all oth­er prop­er­ties that are served by the private water sup­ply and details of both the last water test ana­lys­is res­ults and the capa­city of the water stor­age facilities.

4. In terms of foul drain­age, the pro­pos­al iden­ti­fies that a new waste water treat­ment plant and fil­tra­tion sys­tem will be installed. This facil­ity would be of scale that requires to be licensed by SEPA and to meet their stand­ards for treat­ment and discharge.

5. In terms of sur­face water drain­age, the applic­a­tion pro­poses per­meable sur­faces for track and park­ing bays, with two under­ground soakaways pro­posed for water from lodge roofs and decks. A SuDS scheme would provide great­er bene­fits for biod­iversity than under­ground soakaways, but irre­spect­ive of meth­od, a sus­pens­ive con­di­tion would be required to ensure the sub­mis­sion of detail to be approved pri­or to development.

6. If the applic­a­tion were to be approved, the addi­tion of appro­pri­ate sus­pens­ive con­di­tions would be allow it to com­ply with the rel­ev­ant part of Policy 3: Design and Place­mak­ing and Policy 10: Resources of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021.

Road Safety Issues

1. Policy 3: Design and Place­mak­ing of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021 states that all new devel­op­ment will include appro­pri­ate means of access, egress and space for off street parking.

2. The devel­op­ment site is accessed off the B995 road, and then via a loc­al track. A new 2m wide, gravel access track is pro­posed to serve the eight lodges, with park­ing bays

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 25/03/2022

loc­ated at either end of the site. The Council’s Roads team have raised no objec­tions. The level of park­ing pro­vi­sion pro­posed is appro­pri­ate for this scale of development.

1. The pro­pos­als, sub­ject to the recom­men­ded con­di­tions are con­sidered to be accept­able in terms of road safety and are in accord­ance with Policy 3: Design and Place­mak­ing of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021.

Cul­tur­al Heritage

1. Policy 9: Cul­tur­al Her­it­age of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021 seeks to con­serve and enhance fea­tures of his­tor­ic or archae­olo­gic­al sig­ni­fic­ance, or to avoid, min­im­ise or mit­ig­ate and adverse effects on them.

2. Aber­deen­shire Coun­cil Archae­olo­gic­al Ser­vice have high­lighted that archae­olo­gic­al remains dat­ing from pre­his­tory and poten­tially medi­ev­al to mod­ern times are known to be in and close to the applic­a­tion site. These would be dis­turbed or des­troyed by the devel­op­ment pro­pos­al so if the applic­a­tion were to be approved, it would require a sus­pens­ive con­di­tion requir­ing an approved scheme of archae­olo­gic­al invest­ig­a­tions, record­ing and poten­tially ana­lys­is to be under­taken pri­or to devel­op­ment. Sub­ject to such a con­di­tion the pro­pos­al is con­sidered to com­ply with Policy 9 Cul­tur­al Her­it­age of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021.

CON­CLU­SION

1. This applic­a­tion for tour­ism accom­mod­a­tion seeks to cre­ate addi­tion­al and com­ple­ment­ary overnight accom­mod­a­tion at the Glen Clova Hotel. It would expand the range of accom­mod­a­tion avail­able, sup­port the oper­a­tion and viab­il­ity of the Hotel and sup­port the eco­nomy of the area through addi­tion­al overnight stays through­out the year. The prin­ciple of addi­tion­al vis­it­or accom­mod­a­tion asso­ci­ated with Hotel is one that policy supports.

2. How­ever, in their cur­rent form and design, the pro­pos­als will res­ult in sig­ni­fic­ant adverse effects on the land­scape char­ac­ter, visu­al amen­ity, and spe­cial land­scape qual­it­ies of the Nation­al Park. It will intro­duce a form of devel­op­ment whose scale and design will not be sym­path­et­ic to, nor com­ple­ment the sur­round­ing land­scape, which in turn will have an adverse impact on the char­ac­ter and set­ting of Glen Clova. Because of that, it is con­sidered the applic­a­tion does not com­ply with Policy 2: Sup­port­ing Eco­nom­ic Growth, Policy 3: Design and Place­mak­ing or Policy 5: Land­scape of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021. There is also capa­city in the land sur­round­ing the Clova Hotel for addi­tion­al devel­op­ment that would not have such sig­ni­fic­ant adverse effects.

3. Officers don’t con­sider that the con­tri­bu­tion to the exist­ing hotel busi­ness, the range of vis­it­or accom­mod­a­tion avail­able or to the loc­al eco­nomy out­weigh the sig­ni­fic­ant adverse effects on the land­scape char­ac­ter, visu­al amen­ity and spe­cial land­scape qual­it­ies of the Nation­al Park which mean it is con­sidered con­trary to the rel­ev­ant policies of the Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan and there­fore recom­mend refus­al of the applic­a­tion. Oth­er mat­ters that relate to the detail of the pro­pos­als and compliance

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 25/03/2022

with oth­er policies that could all be addressed through sus­pens­ive con­di­tions if the applic­a­tion were to be approved, become addi­tion­al reas­ons for its refusal.

RECOM­MEND­A­TION

That Mem­bers of the Com­mit­tee sup­port a recom­mend­a­tion to REFUSE the Erec­tion of 8No. Hol­i­day Lodges and Plant/​Storage Build­ing, Form­a­tion of Vehicu­lar Access, Park­ing and Turn­ing Areas, Install­a­tion of Sewage Treat­ment Plant and Sur­face Water Soakaways at Land North­w­est of Glen Clova Hotel, Glen Clova, for the fol­low­ing reasons:

Reas­ons for Refusal

1. The pro­posed devel­op­ment is con­trary to Policy 2 Sup­port­ing Eco­nom­ic Growth, and Policy 5: Land­scape of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021 because it will have sig­ni­fic­ant adverse effects on visu­al amen­ity, land­scape char­ac­ter and spe­cial land­scape qual­it­ies of the Nation­al Park due to its lay­out, design, archi­tec­ture and com­bin­a­tion of materials.

2. The pro­posed devel­op­ment is con­trary to Policy 3: Sus­tain­able Design of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021, because it will not be sym­path­et­ic to the tra­di­tion­al pat­tern and char­ac­ter of the sur­round­ing area, does not use a com­bin­a­tion of mater­i­al and land­scap­ing that will com­ple­ment the set­ting of the devel­op­ment and does not cre­ate oppor­tun­it­ies for fur­ther biod­iversity or pro­mote eco­lo­gic­al interest.

3. The pro­posed devel­op­ment is con­trary to Policy 4: Nat­ur­al Her­it­age of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021 because it has not demon­strated it will not have sig­ni­fic­ant effects on pro­tec­ted spe­cies, breed­ing birds or the River South Esk Spe­cial Area of