Item5AAGlenClovaTrack20200068DET

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 12/06/2020

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHORITY

DEVEL­OP­MENT PROPOSED:

Ret­ro­spect­ive plan­ning per­mis­sion for the upgrad­ing of an exist­ing track, includ­ing widen­ing, the use of impor­ted mater­i­al and the install­a­tion of drain­age at Land At Clova Estate Glen Clova

REF­ER­ENCE: 2020/0068/DET

APPLIC­ANT: Mr Hugh Niven

DATE CALLED-IN: 9 March 2020

RECOM­MEND­A­TION: Approve

CASE OFFICER: Ed Swales Mon­it­or­ing And Enforce­ment Officer

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CNPA Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Applic­a­tion Site 0 37.5 75 Meters Clova Castle (rems of) Clova Hotel N 150 Cad­dam 231 245m m 0 Tom Baith Iss 0 232m + Crown copy­right and data­base rights 2020. Ord­nance Sur­vey Licence num­ber 100040965 310m 44 Co Q A 8 300m 295m Clova 285m 0 FB CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 12/06/2020 290m Path B FB Ford Kirk­ton Lodge 265m Path Track 340m S 2

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 12/06/2020

SITE DESCRIP­TION, PRO­POS­AL AND HIS­TORY Site Description

1. The site forms part of the Glen Clova Estate and is loc­ated approx­im­ately 15 miles north of Kirriemuir. The track itself is adja­cent to the Clova Hotel and is accessed by the B955.

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=Q6PSURSI0CH0 0

Title	Draw­ing Num­ber	Date on Plan*	Date Received
Exist­ing Cross Section			09/03/2020
Plan­ning Statement		19/12/19	09/03/2020
Site Plan	19÷0033÷4		09/03/2020
Sup­ple­ment­ary Loc­a­tion Plan	19÷0033÷2		09/03/2020

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

1. This applic­a­tion seeks ret­ro­spect­ive plan­ning per­mis­sion for the upgrad­ing of an exist­ing track. The track is inten­ded to provide access to the hill­side for agri­cul­tur­al, forestry and sport­ing pur­poses. The track is approx­im­ately 450m in length and up to about 10m in width includ­ing drains and verges. It is partly sur­faced, although the sur­fa­cing is rough.

2. This applic­a­tion was sought through the ser­vice of a Sec­tion 33A enforce­ment notice requir­ing the sub­mis­sion of an application.

His­tory

1. The sec­tion of track upslope of this applic­a­tion is sub­ject to an enforce­ment notice served by the CNPA requir­ing its removal.

2. The CNPA plan­ning Com­mit­tee approved a Pri­or Approv­al applic­a­tion for the con­struc­tion of a forestry track with­in the Cad­dam Woods on the south side of Glen Clova on 26 May 2020. A pri­or approv­al applic­a­tion for a forestry track high­er in Glen Clova was recently approved by Angus Council.

3. The CNPA approved a Hydro Elec­tric Scheme on land north of the Glen Clova Hotel in 2010.

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 12/06/2020

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 (2015) Those policies rel­ev­ant to the assess­ment of this applic­a­tion are marked with a cross
POLICY I	NEW HOUS­ING DEVELOPMENT
POLICY 2	SUP­PORT­ING ECO­NOM­IC GROWTH
POLICY 3	SUS­TAIN­ABLE DESIGN
POLICY 4	NAT­UR­AL HERITAGE
POLICY 5	LAND­SCAPE
POLICY 6	THE SIT­ING AND DESIGN OF DIGIT­AL COM­MU­NIC­A­TIONS EQUIPMENT
POLICY 7	RENEW­ABLE ENERGY
POLICY 8	SPORT AND RECREATION
POLICY 9	CUL­TUR­AL HERITAGE
POLICY 10	RESOURCES
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:

http://​cairngorms​.co​.uk/​u​p​l​o​a​d​s​/​d​o​c​u​m​e​n​t​s​/Park Authority/Planning/LDP15.pdf

1. Oth­er rel­ev­ant loc­al policies are (delete if not applic­able) Plan­ning Guidance

2. 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.

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

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 12/06/2020

Policy 11 Developer Con­tri­bu­tions Sup­ple­ment­ary Guid­ance CONSULTATIONS

1. A sum­mary of the main issues raised by con­sul­tees now follows:

2. SEPA have no objec­tion to this plan­ning applic­a­tion on flood risk grounds.

3. CNPA Out­door Access note that a nearby path to Loch Brandy is a core path (EC6) that will not be affected and there­fore have no objec­tion to the application.

4. CNPA Land­scape Advisor states the track is clearly vis­ible from the oppos­ite, north-facing side of Glen Clova, with some views drawn to its loc­a­tion upon the hill back­drop when dir­ec­ted to the focal fea­tures of the crags of Ben Reid and Boustie Ley bey­ond. The track is also vis­ible from the pop­u­lar path to and from Loch Brandy although the track appears as a small part of a wide pan­or­ama and near oth­er human ele­ments of the land­scape pattern.

5. At a loc­al level, the track res­ults in adverse land­scape and visu­al effects primar­ily due to its crude route­ing and con­struc­tion, ground dis­turb­ance, extens­ive width, broad drain­age ditches, extens­ive depos­ition of spoil (soil and rocks) either side of the track, con­trast­ing sur­face aggreg­ate col­our and tex­ture, and exposed cut­ting and embank­ment slopes.

6. They go on to sug­gest the width of the track be reduced to the min­im­um required, any dis­turbed ground be restored using best prac­tice and incor­por­ate drain­age meas­ures to avoid sur­face erosion. Fur­ther mit­ig­a­tion sug­ges­ted includes any turn­ing circle for the end of the track is con­sidered pri­or to con­struc­tion and ongo­ing mon­it­or­ing of the track once the above mit­ig­a­tion has been undertaken.

7. Kirriemuir Land­ward East Com­munity Coun­cil offered no com­ment on the application.

REP­RES­ENT­A­TIONS

1. There have been two objec­tions to the track which focus on the use of the track and its con­struc­tion. APPRAISAL

Prin­ciple

1. This sec­tion of track has exis­ted for more than a dec­ade and been used for a vari­ety of agri­cul­tur­al, forestry and estate man­age­ment pur­poses. It may have been used to access the hill­side for much longer but does not appear on older ord­nance sur­vey maps. The route has been sig­ni­fic­antly altered in recent years, becom­ing wider, hav­ing drain­age added and a new run­ning sur­face applied. How­ever, the prin­ciple of the track itself is con­sidered accept­able due to its long term use linked to agri­cul­tur­al and forestry purposes.

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 12/06/2020

Design, Land­scape and E Impacts

1. Policy 3: Sus­tain­able Design seeks gen­er­ally high stand­ards of design in devel­op­ment to min­im­ise impacts and Policy 5: Land­scape of the Cairngorm Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2015 seeks to con­serve and enhance land­scape char­ac­ter and spe­cial qual­it­ies of the Cairngorm Nation­al Park.

2. While the track is of rough con­struc­tion and has a poorly bound sur­face in places, the main visu­al and land­scape impacts are a res­ult of a wide line of exposed sur­faces in the oth­er­wise mainly grass­land hill­side. With appro­pri­ate mit­ig­a­tion through reve­get­a­tion to reduce the impact of the track itself, its ditches, cut­tings and spoil banks, the land­scape and visu­al impacts will be reduced and exposed ground will be sta­bil­ised. It is con­sidered that with con­di­tions secur­ing that mit­ig­a­tion the pro­pos­al will com­ply with Policy 3: Sus­tain­able Design and Policy 5: Land­scape of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan.

3. Policy 4: Nat­ur­al Her­it­age of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2015 seeks to pro­tect des­ig­nated sites and pro­tec­ted spe­cies and con­serve biod­iversity. The works to upgrade the exist­ing track have been under­taken and any dam­age to spe­cies or hab­it­ats has already occurred. Although more extens­ive earth­works could fur­ther reduce the land­scape and visu­al impacts of the track, they would also cre­ate fur­ther dis­turb­ance to hab­it­ats. With appro­pri­ate con­di­tions secur­ing reve­get­a­tion of exposed sur­faces, the sur­round­ing plant spe­cies will recol­on­ise the ground, improves the ground’s sta­bil­ity and water stor­age capa­city, main­tain­ing water qual­ity. With those con­di­tions attached to any plan­ning per­mis­sion, the devel­op­ment is con­sidered to com­ply with Policy 4: Nat­ur­al Her­it­age of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan.

Oth­er Issues Raised in Con­sulta­tions and Representations

1. The rep­res­ent­a­tions focus on the use of the track and its con­struc­tion. The con­struc­tion will be mit­ig­ated using the meas­ures described above. Its use, while there will be a sport­ing ele­ment to it will also facil­it­ate the estates agri­cul­ture and forestry objectives.

CON­CLU­SION

1. The devel­op­ment under­taken is accept­able in prin­ciple as it is an upgrade to an exist­ing track but has not been under­taken in a way that uses best prac­tice or com­plies with policies in the Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan. In order to min­im­ise the impact of the track on the land­scape and nat­ur­al her­it­age it is neces­sary to impose con­di­tions on an approv­al to make the devel­op­ment accept­able. The altern­at­ive would be to require the rein­state­ment of the pre­vi­ous track, which in this case would be likely to have fur­ther sig­ni­fic­ant adverse land­scape impacts.

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 12/06/2020

RECOM­MEND­A­TION

That Mem­bers of the Com­mit­tee sup­port a recom­mend­a­tion to approve the upgrad­ing of an exist­ing track, includ­ing widen­ing, the use of impor­ted mater­i­al and the install­a­tion of drain­age in ret­ro­spect at Land At Clova Estate Glen Clova /​subject to the fol­low­ing conditions:

Those con­di­tions lis­ted below in bold text are sus­pens­ive con­di­tions, which require to be dis­charged pri­or to imple­ment­a­tion of the development.

Con­di­tions

1. With­in 12 months of the date of this decision the track will be nar­rowed to a track run­ning sur­face width of no more than 2 meters;

Reas­on: To reduce the land­scape and visu­al impacts of the track in accord­ance with Policy 3: Sus­tain­able Design and Policy 5: Land­scape of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2015;

1. With­in 12 months of the date of this decision any exposed cul­verts or covered drains shall be trimmed to their exit point above ground;

Reas­on: To reduce the land­scape and visu­al impacts of the track in accord­ance with Policy 3: Sus­tain­able Design and Policy 5: Land­scape of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2015;

1. With­in 12 months of the date of this decision any bare ground adja­cent to the 2 meter track, includ­ing ditches and cut­tings shall be veget­ated using loc­ally robbed turves adja­cent to the site, or seeded using an upland spe­cies grass seed mix identic­al or sim­il­ar to Sco­tia Seeds High­land Grass­land Mix at the man­u­fac­tur­ers recom­men­ded specification;

Reas­on: To reduce the land­scape and visu­al impacts of the track, reduce sur­face water dis­charge, improve hab­it­at qual­ity and ensure mit­ig­a­tion works are under­taken in accord­ance with Policy 3: Sus­tain­able Design, Policy 4: Nat­ur­al Her­it­age and Policy 5: Land­scape of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2015;

1. With­in 12 months of the date of this decision a centre strip of not less than 750mm shall be installed in the centre of the 2 meter run­ning sur­face of the track using loc­ally robbed turves adja­cent to the site, or seeded using an upland spe­cies grass seed mix identic­al or sim­il­ar to Sco­tia Seeds High­land Grass­land Mix at the man­u­fac­tur­ers recom­men­ded specification;

Reas­on: To reduce the land­scape and visu­al impacts of the track, reduce sur­face water dis­charge, improve hab­it­at qual­ity and ensure mit­ig­a­tion works are under­taken in accord­ance with Policy 3: Sus­tain­able Design, Policy 4: Nat­ur­al Her­it­age and Policy 5: Land­scape of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2015;

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 12/06/2020

1. Pri­or to any install­a­tion of a turn­ing circle at the upper point of the track a plan show­ing the details of the turn­ing circle shall be sub­mit­ted to and approved in writ­ing by the CNPA act­ing as Plan­ning Author­ity. The works shall be imple­men­ted in accord­ance with the details approved by the CNPA;

Reas­on: To reduce the land­scape and visu­al impacts of the track, reduce sur­face water dis­charge, improve hab­it­at qual­ity and ensure mit­ig­a­tion works are under­taken in accord­ance with Policy 3: Sus­tain­able Design, Policy 4: Nat­ur­al Her­it­age and Policy 5: Land­scape of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2015;

1. The devel­op­ment, hereby approved, shall be con­struc­ted and main­tained in accord­ance with the approved plans and specifications.

Reas­on: To reduce the land­scape and visu­al impacts of the track, reduce sur­face water dis­charge, improve hab­it­at qual­ity and ensure mit­ig­a­tion works are under­taken in accord­ance with Policy 3: Sus­tain­able Design, Policy 4: Nat­ur­al Her­it­age and Policy 5: Land­scape of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2015.

Inform­at­ives

1. The per­son under­tak­ing the devel­op­ment is required to give the Plan­ning Author­ity pri­or writ­ten noti­fic­a­tion of the date on which it is inten­ded to com­mence the devel­op­ment. Attached to this decision notice is a Notice of Ini­ti­ation of Devel­op­ment for com­ple­tion and sub­mis­sion. Sub­mis­sion of this inform­a­tion assists the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Mon­it­or­ing and Enforce­ment Officer in mon­it­or­ing act­ive work with­in the area to ensure com­pli­ance with the approved details and to identi­fy and cor­rect any poten­tial prob­lems, as they arise, rather than later when it may be more dif­fi­cult and more costly to rec­ti­fy. Fail­ure to give notice would con­sti­tute a breach of plan­ning con­trol which may res­ult in enforce­ment action being taken;

2. Fol­low­ing com­ple­tion of the devel­op­ment, a noti­fic­a­tion of the com­ple­tion shall, as soon as prac­tic­able, be giv­en to the Plan­ning Author­ity. Attached to this decision notice is a Notice of Com­ple­tion of Devel­op­ment for com­ple­tion and sub­mis­sion. Sub­mis­sion of this form will assist the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Mon­it­or­ing and Enforce­ment Officer in mak­ing a final inspec­tion and check­ing com­pli­ance with the approved draw­ings and con­di­tions. If the devel­op­ment hereby approved is to be car­ried out in phases, then a notice of com­ple­tion should be sub­mit­ted at the com­ple­tion of each phase.

The map on the first page of this report has been pro­duced to aid in the stat­utory pro­cess of deal­ing with plan­ning applic­a­tions. The map is to help identi­fy the site and its sur­round­ings and to aid Plan­ning Officers, Com­mit­tee Mem­bers and the Pub­lic in the determ­in­a­tion of the pro­pos­al. Maps shown in the Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Report can only be used for the pur­poses of the Plan­ning Com­mit­tee. Any oth­er use risks infringing Crown Copy­right and may lead to pro­sec­u­tion or civil pro­ceed­ings. Maps pro­duced with­in this Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Report can only be repro­duced with the express per­mis­sion of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity and oth­er Copy­right hold­ers. This per­mis­sion must be gran­ted in advance.

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