Item5AALochanBothyReport20200220DET

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 10/12/2021

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHORITY

DEVEL­OP­MENT PRO­POSED: Erec­tion of Bothy and Form­a­tion of Access Track at Land 515M SE of Farm­house, Kil­liehuntly, Kingussie

REF­ER­ENCE: 2020/0220/DET

APPLIC­ANT: Bob Reid, Wild­land Ltd

DATE CALLED-IN: 28 Septem­ber 2020

RECOM­MEND­A­TION: Approve sub­ject to conditions

CASE OFFICER: Katie Crerar Plan­ning Officer

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CNPA Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Applic­a­tion Site

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 10/12/2021

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 10/12/2021

SITE DESCRIP­TION, PRO­POS­AL AND HISTORY

Site Descrip­tion

1. The applic­a­tion site is loc­ated approx­im­ately 500 metres south east of Kil­liehuntly Farm on the north west side of Lochan nan Reamh, just over 3 miles east of Kingussie.
2. The site com­prises a mix­ture of unim­proved acid grass­land in the north­ern part of the site and semi-mature con­i­fer­ous wood­land in the south and flat­ter moor­land to the east.
3. Access to the devel­op­ment site will be taken from an exist­ing vehicle track run­ning south east from Kil­liehuntly Farm which lies approx­im­ately 100 metres to the north of the pro­posed bothy site. The site of the new access track runs through the grass­land, into the wood­land plant­a­tion to where the bothy will be loc­ated. The bothy will be situ­ated on the edge of the wooded area, over­look­ing Lochan nan Reamh.

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=QH0HB6SI0CH00

Title	Draw­ing Num­ber	Date on Plan*	Date Received
Plan — Loc­a­tion Plan	826_01_101	16/09/20	28/09/20
Plan — Pro­posed Loc­a­tion Plan 2	826_01_103	01/09/20	28/09/20
Plan — Pro­posed Site Plan	826_01_102	12/08/21	27/09/21
Plan — Pro­posed Floor Plan	826_01_201	20/11/19	28/09/20
Plan — Pro­posed Front Elevation	826_01_401	20/11/19	28/09/20
Plan — Pro­posed Back Elevation	826_01_402	20/11/19	28/09/20
Plan — Pro­posed Side Elev­a­tion I	826_01_403	20/11/19	28/09/20
Plan — Pro­posed Side Elev­a­tion 2	826_01_4040	20/11/19	28/09/20
Oth­er — Access Proposals		01/01/21	11/01/21
Plan — Bothy Access Land­scape Gen­er­al Arrangement	6539.15-LP-PLN-001	08/01/21	11/01/21

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 10/12/2021

Plan — Bothy Access Indic­at­ive Gradi­ents	6539.15-LP-SKE-001	01/11/20	19/11/20
Oth­er — Con­struc­tion Meth­od Statement	D_826_01	01/09/21	28/09/21
Oth­er — Tree Sur­vey Tree Con­straints Plan	6539-LP-PLN-101	02/09/21	27/09/21
Oth­er — Tree Sur­vey Pro­posed Tree Works	6539-LP-PLN-102	24/09/21	27/09/21
Oth­er — Pro­tec­ted Spe­cies Survey	10666B	04/06/21	28/06/21
Oth­er — Drain­age Solu­tions Assessment		22/02/21	11/03/21
Oth­er — Addi­tion­al Information		11/03/21	11/03/21
Oth­er — Pre­lim­in­ary Eco­lo­gic­al Appraisal		20/01/20	24/11/20
Oth­er — Bothy Planting		01/11/20	19/11/20
Oth­er — Archae­ology Report	3852	01/04/19	28/09/20
Oth­er — Land­scape and Visu­al Appraisal		10/03/20	28/09/20
Oth­er — Plan­ning Policy Review		10/03/20	28/09/20
* Where no spe­cif­ic day of month has been provided on the plan, the sys­tem defaults to the 1st of the month.

1. The applic­a­tion seeks full plan­ning per­mis­sion for the con­struc­tion of a ​‘bothy’ (a small and basic self-cater­ing unit) and the form­a­tion of an access­ible track (that can accom­mod­ate a vehicle if required) taken from an exist­ing vehicu­lar track approx­im­ately 100m north of the pro­posed bothy site. The devel­op­ment will com­prise the con­struc­tion of a pre-fab­ric­ated, self-con­tained bothy extend­ing to approx­im­ately 90 square metres (with an intern­al floor area of 55 square metres) situ­ated with­in the trees over­look­ing Lochan nan Reamh.
2. The bothy will be access­ible and has there­fore been designed with a lar­ger foot­print com­pris­ing of two com­pon­ent parts or ​‘volumes’, each designed in a tra­di­tion­al bothy shape with a dual-pitch roof. The smal­ler but more prom­in­ent sec­tion or ​‘volume’ is posi­tioned over­look­ing the Lochan with a roof pitch height of 4400mm. The lar­ger second part or ​‘volume’ is posi­tioned to the rear of this with a roof pitch height of 4000mm.
3. The main living/​kitchen area is loc­ated in the smal­ler sec­tion which is posi­tioned to max­im­ise the more open views (and nat­ur­al day­light) to the south and east over­look­ing the Lochan. The oth­er lar­ger sec­tion or ​‘volume’ con­tains the entrance hall/​vestibule, an access­ible shower room and bed­room with a bath and is posi­tioned (and con­nec­ted) behind the smal­ler volume and is more enclosed provid­ing great­er pri­vacy. Level access to the bothy is provided on the north-west elev­a­tion. In addi­tion there is an extern­ally accessed room/​storage facil­ity adja­cent to the entrance.
4. The bothy will be con­struc­ted of and fin­ished in tim­ber. The struc­ture will be built of Glu­lam (glued lam­in­ated tim­ber) and then fin­ished in black stained Siberi­an larch

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 10/12/2021

1. clad­ding boards with dark grey stained win­dow and door frames. It is inten­ded that the larch will over time age and weath­er to blend in with the surroundings.

The bothy will be pre-fab­ric­ated to reduce waste and on-site foot­fall dur­ing con­struc­tion. A tim­ber deck will be installed to cre­ate a stable work­ing plat­form from which the bothy will be con­struc­ted. The bothy will be situ­ated above ground on an elev­ated steel chassis using ground screw found­a­tions to min­im­ise impacts on the ground and provide level access on the slop­ing ground whilst also provid­ing elev­ated views. Minor excav­a­tions will be required to secure anchor points for the chassis and structure.

1. The build­ing com­pon­ents of the bothy will be delivered by lorry to Kil­liehuntly farm­house and then dropped onsite by a heli­copter and con­struc­ted and posi­tioned by a small team. Heli­copter drops will be man­aged in con­sulta­tion with the pro­ject eco­lo­gic­al con­sult­ants to avoid bird breed­ing sea­sons and min­im­ise any impacts on wildlife.
2. Intern­ally, the bothy has been con­figured to allow for sep­ar­ate sleep­ing and liv­ing areas with large spaces to accom­mod­ate a range of mobil­ity require­ments and com­fort­able use of the facil­it­ies. In addi­tion, there is suf­fi­cient space provided to allow a carer or com­pan­ion to stay as well. Intern­al fin­ishes will also be designed to sup­port all levels of mobil­ity includ­ing access­ible toi­let and wash­ing facil­it­ies. The bothy will have a urine divert­ing dry toi­let (UDDT) (main­tained and emp­tied as part of ongo­ing main­ten­ance) and waste water will be filtered pri­or to being dis­posed of via a soakaway. Grey water will be treated via a Biorock sys­tem and dis­charged via a soakaway. Whilst the bothy will be cap­able of being ​‘off grid’ if desired, it will have mains water and elec­tri­city to accom­mod­ate the vary­ing needs of those stay­ing there. Extern­al light­ing will be kept to a min­im­um. Any extern­al light­ing required such as at the bothy entrance, will be triggered by motion sensor and timed.
3. Access to the bothy will be a path taken from an exist­ing track 100 metres north of where the bothy will be situ­ated. The pro­posed path is routed to keep its gradi­ent to a min­im­um to make it more access­ible and will be able to accom­mod­ate a vehicle if required. The path will head in a south-west­erly dir­ec­tion before a hair-pin bend tak­ing the path back in an east­erly dir­ec­tion to the bothy. The total dis­tance of the new path will be approx­im­ately 230m and 1.8m wide.
4. The path will be con­struc­ted in the style of a tra­di­tion­al hill path using loc­ally sourced mater­i­als to ensure it is in keep­ing with the sur­round­ing con­text and loc­al land­scape char­ac­ter. The path will com­prise slight vari­ations in width to avoid straight edges and uni­form­ity and will be con­struc­ted with a free drain­ing sur­face course (using crushed loc­al aggreg­ate as a bind­ing lay­er) and a 250mm depth trench with level tray base of firm min­er­al soil. The nat­ur­al aggreg­ates will be built up in graded lay­ers of inter­lock­ing stone with lar­ger for the base and smal­ler for the sur­face. The path will be edged with loc­ally sourced boulders and turfs and veget­a­tion. The mains water and elec­tri­city will be installed under the path dur­ing con­struc­tion, so as to reduce the need for addi­tion­al excavations.
5. It is anti­cip­ated that the path will encounter rel­at­ively low rates of usage due to the small num­ber of guests and ser­vice staff using it and there­fore the access path has been

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 10/12/2021

designed to be low impact. It will be main­tained to keep it useable how­ever veget­a­tion clear­ance will be min­im­ised to allow moss­ing over of aggreg­ates and soften­ing of the path edges to integ­rate the path into its surroundings.

1. The path will be wheel­chair access­ible with rest­ing points (see Site Plan) and a hand rail along the lower half of the path where the gradi­ent is slightly steep­er. How­ever over­all the gradi­ent of the path is rel­at­ively gentle (1:20) and the hand­rails will be con­struc­ted using wrought iron posts and a guide rope to reflect the rur­al char­ac­ter of the area.
2. Tree sur­vey inform­a­tion provided with the applic­a­tion indic­ated that approx­im­ately 38 trees (all Cat­egory C) will be removed to con­struct the path and to accom­mod­ate the bothy itself (see Site Plan). Tree removals along the access route will primar­ily com­prise young (seed­ling) pines and those asso­ci­ated with the bothy are primar­ily nat­ur­ally grow­ing goat wil­low on the wet­ter ground near the shore of the Lochan.
3. The Con­struc­tion Meth­od State­ment states that the remov­al of these will be under­taken out­side of key bird breed­ing sea­son. The applic­ant is pro­pos­ing to under­take a sig­ni­fic­ant amount of nat­ive tree plant­ing com­pris­ing 397 bare root whips and 82 spe­ci­men trees cov­er­ing an area of 2165 square metres on an area of unim­proved acid grass­land. A Tree Sur­vey com­pris­ing a tree con­straints plan and pro­posed tree works has been sub­mit­ted with the application.
4. Plans of the pro­pos­al are included with­in Appendix 1.

His­tory

1. There is no recent plan­ning his­tory on the bothy site itself, how­ever there have been a num­ber of applic­a­tions in recent years at Kil­liehuntly Farm house and vicin­ity includ­ing a change of use of the Farm­house to Class 7 Hotel & Gues­t­house (16/00829/FUL), Use of the farm stead­ing as a com­mer­cial kit­chen with ancil­lary meet­ing room, laun­dry, man­agers office and flat (16/00846/FUL), and sought cer­ti­fic­ates of law­ful­ness for the change of use of res­id­en­tial dwell­ings to hol­i­day accom­mod­a­tion (17/01983/CLP and 16/00888/CLP).

Hab­it­ats Reg­u­la­tions Apprais­al (HRA)

1. A Hab­it­ats Reg­u­la­tions Apprais­al (HRA) has been car­ried out to ensure that the devel­op­ment will not have an adverse effect on the integ­rity of the River Spey SAC, River Spey — Insh Marshes SPA and Ram­sar site. The HRA iden­ti­fied the poten­tial for impacts from con­struc­tion on the River Tromie (such as sed­i­ment release which impacts on water qual­ity), dis­turb­ance to otter (which is a qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies of the SAC) from con­struc­tion activ­ity and human dis­turb­ance. The HRA (which has been agreed by NatureScot) con­cluded that all con­ser­va­tion object­ives could be met sub­ject to con­di­tions requir­ing a pre-con­struc­tion sur­vey for otter and the imple­ment­a­tion of the Con­struc­tion Meth­od State­ment (CMS) sub­mit­ted with the applic­a­tion to ensure that neces­sary meas­ures will be under­taken to min­im­ise impacts on the sur­round­ing envir­on­ment and dis­turb­ance to otter.

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 10/12/2021

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
POLICY 10	RESOURCES	X
POLICY 11	DEVELOPER OBLIG­A­TIONS

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/LDPI5.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
Policy 10	Resources Non-Stat­utory Guidance	X
Policy 11	Developer Con­tri­bu­tions Sup­ple­ment­ary Guid­ance (2015)

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 10/12/2021

CON­SULTA­TIONS

Sum­mary of the Main Issues Raised by Consultees

1. SEPA state that the pro­pos­al is below the threshold for provid­ing advice how­ever do note that the grey water dis­charge and UDDT pro­pos­als appear adequate for their pur­pose and that dis­charges of the grey water to the ground may require pri­or author­isa­tion from SEPA under The Water Envir­on­ment (Con­trolled Activ­it­ies) (Scot­land) Reg­u­la­tion 2011 (CAR).
2. NatureScot were con­sul­ted on the Hab­it­ats Reg­u­la­tions Apprais­al to which they agreed there would be no adverse effect on the integ­rity of the River Spey Spe­cial Area of Con­ser­va­tion (SAC), River Spey – Insh Marshes Spe­cial Pro­tec­tion Area (SPA) and Ram­sar Site.
3. High­land Coun­cil (Floor Risk Man­age­ment) do not object to the application.
4. High­land Coun­cil (Trans­port Plan­ning) do not object to the application.
5. High­land Coun­cil (Envir­on­ment­al Advice & Con­sultancy – Archae­ology) do not object to the application.
6. High­land Coun­cil (Envir­on­ment­al Health) advise that should it not be pos­sible to con­nect the bothy to mains water, that the fol­low­ing sus­pens­ive con­di­tion should be applied: a) ​‘Pri­or to the devel­op­ment com­men­cing the applic­ant shall con­firm that a con­nec­tion to the mains pub­lic water sup­ply is to be made. If this is not pos­sible, then they must sub­mit the fol­low­ing inform­a­tion, as described in the Private Water Sup­plies Plan­ning Advice Note, for the writ­ten approv­al of the Plan­ning Author­ity: i. A com­pleted private water sup­ply ques­tion­naire (Form PWS I). ii. A plan of the devel­op­ment and water sup­ply. iii. A report from a com­pet­ent per­son which demon­strates that there will be a suf­fi­cient piped sup­ply of whole­some water to meet the demands of this prop­erty. b) Where the report iden­ti­fies a need for water treat­ment this shall be put in place pri­or to the occu­pancy’. c) They also sug­gest the fol­low­ing inform­at­ive: i. ​‘The applic­ant should be informed that if the premises can­not be con­nec­ted to the mains pub­lic water sup­ply and is to be sup­plied with water from a private water sup­ply, and it is to be used for a com­mer­cial pur­pose, then, under the require­ments of The Water Inten­ded for Human Con­sump­tion (Private Sup­plies) (Scot­land) Reg­u­la­tions 2017, The High­land Coun­cil must add it to the register of private water sup­plies, to risk assess the sup­ply and to sample and test it on an annu­al basis to ensure the water provided meets the reg­u­lat­ory stand­ard. The applic­ant should be informed that there is a charge for this stat­utory func­tion. The applic­ant should inform the envir­on­ment­al health team of The High­land Coun­cil if the prop­erty is used for a com­mer­cial purpose’.

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 10/12/2021

1. CNPA Out­door Access do not object to the application.
2. CNPA Land­scape Advisor is of the view that the pro­posed devel­op­ment site pos­sesses some capa­city for the type of devel­op­ment being pro­posed on account of its dis­creet loc­a­tion, the pres­ence of struc­tures with­in the wider area and small scale unob­trus­ive design. The effects of the pro­posed access path would be more extens­ive due to its length and the remov­al of some trees. How­ever over­all it is pre­dicted that whilst the pro­pos­al could have some adverse effects on the loc­al land­scape char­ac­ter, these would not be sig­ni­fic­ant to the integ­rity of the Nation­al Park landscape.
3. The Land­scape Advisor has reques­ted a land­scape man­age­ment and main­ten­ance plan includ­ing con­sid­er­a­tion of poten­tial activ­it­ies that could have land­scape effects. Fur­ther land­scape mon­it­or­ing pro­pos­als were also sought to address any path erosion.
4. The CNPA Eco­logy Advisor high­lights the need for pre-start and pre-fell (if required) checks for red squir­rel, pine marten, badger, otter, rep­tiles, bats and Scot­tish wild­cat (and breed­ing birds depend­ing on time of year). It is spe­cific­ally reques­ted that heli­copter flights take place out­with the bird breed­ing sea­son and that the use of noisy plant and machinery is avoided in the two hours before sun­set for badger.
5. It is reques­ted that vis­it­or man­age­ment details are provided to lim­it the impact to otter and any breed­ing birds and encour­age responsible/​sensitive beha­viour from guests.
6. Kin­craig Com­munity Coun­cil have expressed con­cern about the access and the remov­al of trees for this plan­ning application.

REP­RES­ENT­A­TIONS

1. One rep­res­ent­a­tion was received from a res­id­ent of Drumguish who objects to the pro­pos­al on the basis that the bothy would be an intru­sion in what they con­sider to be wild land. They feel that there is suf­fi­cient oppor­tun­ity for those who wish to watch the bird life in this area and are con­cerned that the bothy would lim­it pub­lic access to observe the wild­life at Lochan nan Reamh. They also note that no pro­vi­sion has been made to house the staff needed to ser­vice the bothy and over­all this pro­pos­al will put pres­sures on the lim­ited afford­able hous­ing in the area.

APPRAIS­AL

Prin­ciple

1. The prin­ciple of this devel­op­ment is con­sidered against the rel­ev­ant parts of Policy 2: Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021, spe­cific­ally 2.2 Tour­ist Accommodation.
2. In terms meet­ing 2.2 Tour­ist Accom­mod­a­tion, it is con­sidered that this pro­pos­al can be delivered without hav­ing an adverse impact on the envir­on­ment (sub­ject to the

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 10/12/2021

rel­ev­ant con­di­tions) or affect­ing the amen­ity of neigh­bour­ing areas. The bothy is a small, low impact vis­it­or accom­mod­a­tion that will not have a det­ri­ment­al impact on its surroundings.

1. The bothy will make a pos­it­ive con­tri­bu­tion to the tour­ism accom­mod­a­tion pro­vi­sion in the area, par­tic­u­larly improv­ing for those with lim­ited mobil­ity and dis­abled people. It provides a unique oppor­tun­ity for all abil­it­ies to exper­i­ence stay­ing in a remote and wild set­ting sur­roun­ded by the Nation­al Park’s land­scapes and wild­life with the neces­sary sup­port. It will also con­trib­ute to provid­ing a wider range of vis­it­or accom­mod­a­tion options and over­all it is con­sidered that the prin­ciple of this applic­a­tion com­plies with Policy 2 Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021.

Land­scape and Visual/​Design

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 bothy lies with­in the ​‘Badenoch – Insh Marshes’ land­scape char­ac­ter area and the loc­al land­scape char­ac­ter is influ­enced by the dis­tinct lin­ear space, land­form and the River Tromie, which also includes a mix of nat­ive wood­land, agri­cul­tur­al fields and the estate set­tle­ment of Kil­liehuntly, as well as dis­tinct his­tor­ic land­scape fea­tures such as stone build­ings and walls.
3. The bothy lies on a south-east facing wooded slope on the edge of a semi-mature plant­a­tion to the west of Lochan nan Reamh. It is sur­roun­ded to the north and west by the wood­land with an open aspect to the south east look­ing over the lochan. The bothy itself is small in scale and will be dis­creetly posi­tioned with­in the trees. Views into the site are lim­ited due to loc­al screen­ing by trees and the land­form but bothy and access path would be vis­ible from the marshy shore of the lochan and from the loc­al track over Torr Breac between Kil­liehuntly and the wood­land to the south east.
4. The bothy itself has been designed to reflect loc­al ver­nacu­lar using simple tra­di­tion­al bothy shapes with a dual pitched roof. The design is slightly unusu­al as it com­prises two sec­tions or ​‘volumes’ (to increase the floor area to provide great­er access­ib­il­ity) but it is con­sidered that it has been appro­pri­ately posi­tioned and sits well with­in the land­scape, nestled with­in the trees.
5. The bothy will be con­nec­ted to mains water and elec­tri­city which will be installed under the access path and would not require any over­head lines. Heat will be provided via a wood burn­ing stove and the design and mater­i­als used seek to util­ise energy efficiency.
6. The bothy will be vis­ible from the Lochan and imme­di­ate sur­round­ings, how­ever it is not con­sidered to have a det­ri­ment­al impact on the land­scape char­ac­ter of this area and the stained larch clad­ding fin­ish will help the bothy to integ­rate into its surroundings.

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 10/12/2021

1. The access path (approx. 230m see Site Plan) will be more prom­in­ent from the main access track to the north of the lochan. How­ever it is con­sidered that the use of loc­al mater­i­als and tra­di­tion­al design will help the path integ­rate into the land­scape. The pro­posed addi­tion­al tree plant­ing will be focused around the access path which over time will lessen its visu­al impact.
2. A tree sur­vey com­pris­ing a Tree Con­straints Plan and Pro­posed Tree Works provide a sur­vey of the trees in the area and identi­fy those pro­posed for remov­al as well as the pro­posed tree plant­ing and a work­ing cor­ridor has been iden­ti­fied (See Tree Con­straints Plan). Whilst there is a pre­sump­tion against the remov­al of wood­land, the pro­pos­al will not res­ult in the remov­al of an area of wood­land, but trees dis­persed with­in it. The wood­land com­prises semi-mature con­i­fer­ous trees and those pro­posed for remov­al are all Cat­egory C (which are smal­ler and of lower qual­ity). In addi­tion, sub­stan­tial com­pens­at­ory and addi­tion­al plant­ing is pro­posed which over time will improve the wood­land in terms of size and diversity of tree spe­cies and it is con­sidered that this provides appro­pri­ate mit­ig­a­tion for the tree loss.
3. A land­scape man­age­ment and main­ten­ance plan was also reques­ted how­ever it is not con­sidered neces­sary in this instance as the num­ber of people using the bothy (two at a time) along staff is unlikely to res­ult in sig­ni­fic­ant addi­tion­al erosion of the paths or cre­ate any wider land­scape or dis­turb­ance issues.
4. Over­all, the pro­pos­al has been sym­path­et­ic­ally designed to com­ple­ment and integ­rate with­in its sur­round­ings. The scale, design and mater­i­als of the bothy are in keep­ing with the char­ac­ter of the area, the pro­pos­al will not res­ult in any sig­ni­fic­ant land­scape impacts and there­fore com­plies with Policy 5: Land­scape of the Cairngorms nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021.

Eco­logy

1. Policy 4: Nat­ur­al Her­it­age of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Devel­op­ment Plan 2021 seeks to restrict devel­op­ment that would have an adverse impact on pro­tec­ted spe­cies and where this can­not be avoided that appro­pri­ate mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures are provided.

Des­ig­na­tions and Pro­tec­ted Species

1. The applic­a­tion site lies on the edge of Lochan nan Reamh, which out­flows into the River Tromie, part of the River Spey SAC and is also con­nec­ted via the River Tromie to the River Spey — Insh Marshes SPA and Ram­sar site.
2. The poten­tial for otter in the area (as a qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies of the River Spey SAC) around the devel­op­ment site was raised and a fur­ther detailed pro­tec­ted spe­cies sur­vey was under­taken which spe­cific­ally looked at otter, badger and red squir­rel. The sur­vey noted that Lochan nan Reamh (which is con­nec­ted to the River Tromie) provides suit­able com­mut­ing and for­aging hab­it­at for otter. Evid­ence of otter was noted around the peri­phery of the lochan (two ret­ing places (hov­ers) approx­im­ately 200m from the site) but no evid­ence of holts were recor­ded. It is there­fore proposed

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 10/12/2021

that a pre-con­struc­tion otter sur­vey is under­taken and a spe­cies pro­tec­tion plan set­ting out appro­pri­ate meas­ures if neces­sary) is required as a con­di­tion. In addi­tion, a Con­struc­tion Meth­od State­ment has been pre­pared which will reduce the risk of dis­turb­ance dur­ing con­struc­tion to a min­im­um level.

1. Hab­it­at to the north of the bothy is suit­able for­aging and sett cre­ation hab­it­at for badger. A badger sett was recor­ded in wood­land to the west of the lochan (190m from the bothy site and 100m from the path) and oth­er evid­ence of badger was recor­ded in the area. No evid­ence of red squir­rel was recor­ded how­ever it is acknow­ledged that there is the poten­tial for these spe­cies to be present in the wider area and there­fore a pre-con­struc­tion and pre-felling checks are recom­men­ded as a con­di­tion. The Eco­logy Advisor also advises pre-con­struc­tion checks for pine marten, rep­tiles, bats, Scot­tish wild­cat and breed­ing birds depend­ing on the time of year.
2. Con­cern was expressed about the poten­tial impacts of con­struc­tion on both the des­ig­nated sites and pro­tec­ted spe­cies. As noted above, whilst there is lim­ited evid­ence demon­strat­ing the use of the site by these spe­cies, it is import­ant the con­struc­tion meth­ods are util­ised to ensure that there will be no impacts on any pro­tec­ted spe­cies should they be present in the wider area.
3. A Con­struc­tion Meth­od State­ment has been pre­pared and sets out that all ground works and heli­copter flights for deliv­er­ing mater­i­als will be under­taken in late winter/​spring to avoid bird breed­ing sea­sons, that all excav­a­tions will be covered or have a ramp placed in them to avoid entrap­ment and work­ing hours should not occur between one hour before sun­set and one hour after sun­rise to avoid dis­turb­ance to spe­cies such as otter.
4. A Hab­it­ats Reg­u­la­tions Apprais­al (HRA) has been car­ried out to ensure that the devel­op­ment will not have an adverse effect on the integ­rity of the River Spey SAC, River Spey — Insh Marshes SPA and Ram­sar Site. The HRA iden­ti­fied the poten­tial for impacts from con­struc­tion on the River Tromie (such as sed­i­ment release which impacts on water qual­ity), dis­turb­ance to otter (which is a qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies of the SAC) from con­struc­tion activ­ity and human dis­turb­ance. The HRA (which has been agreed by NatureScot) con­cluded that all con­ser­va­tion object­ives could be met sub­ject to con­di­tions requir­ing a pre-con­struc­tion sur­vey for otter and the imple­ment­a­tion of the Con­struc­tion Meth­od State­ment (CMS) sub­mit­ted with the applic­a­tion to ensure that neces­sary meas­ures will be under­taken to min­im­ise impacts on the sur­round­ing envir­on­ment and dis­turb­ance to otter.
5. Over­all, it is con­sidered that the pro­pos­al will not have an adverse effect on any of the des­ig­nated sites or pro­tec­ted spe­cies. As high­lighted above, con­di­tions have been added to require pre-con­struc­tion (and if rel­ev­ant, pre-felling) sur­veys for pro­tec­ted spe­cies and if required spe­cies pro­tec­tion plans.

Biorock Treat­ment System

1. The devel­op­ment pro­poses that grey/​waste water will be treated via a Biorock treat­ment sys­tem in the ground and dis­charged via an out­fall incor­por­at­ing at least 25m² of con­struc­ted par­tial soakaway that ter­min­ates in Lochan nan Ream. Con­cern was expressed about the poten­tial impacts nitrate and phos­phor­ous levels which could

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 10/12/2021

impact on the des­ig­nated sites/​species, as the lochan flows into the River Tromie, part of the River Spey SAC.

1. How­ever, NatureScot advised that phos­phor­ous levels are not of con­cern at this gen­er­al loc­a­tion. So long as the treat­ment sys­tem and soakaway com­ply with build­ing reg­u­la­tions, such sys­tems should not have a sig­ni­fic­ant effect on fresh­wa­ter qual­i­fy­ing interests. There­fore there would not be a likely sig­ni­fic­ant effect on any of the qual­i­fy­ing interests from the waste water treat­ment system.
2. In addi­tion, as high­lighted by SEPA, dis­charges to the ground or water envir­on­ment will require pri­or author­isa­tion from SEPA under The Water Envir­on­ment (Con­trolled Activ­it­ies) (Scot­land) Reg­u­la­tion 2011 (CAR).
3. Over­all, officers are sat­is­fied that the Biorock treat­ment sys­tem is appro­pri­ate and will not adversely affect the lochan, River Tromie or the River Spey SAC.

Eco­logy Conclusion

1. Over­all it is con­sidered that the scale and con­struc­tion of this pro­pos­al can be achieved without caus­ing sig­ni­fic­ant effects on hab­it­ats, pro­tec­ted spe­cies or area pro­tec­ted for nature con­ser­va­tion. Con­di­tions will be attached to ensure the appro­pri­ate pre-con­struc­tion checks are under­taken for pro­tec­ted spe­cies and con­struc­tion will adhere to what is set out in the Con­struc­tion Meth­od State­ment to min­im­ise any dis­turb­ance to the sur­round­ing area. Over­all, this devel­op­ment com­plies with Policy 4: Nat­ur­al Her­it­age of the Cairngorms nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021.

Ser­vi­cing and Access

1. Policy 3: Design and Place­mak­ing requires all devel­op­ments to seek to min­im­ise the effects of devel­op­ment on cli­mate change, make sus­tain­able use of resources, main­tain and max­im­ise oppor­tun­it­ies for respons­ible out­door access and provide appro­pri­ate means of access and egress.
2. Access to the site will be via foot or vehicle along the exist­ing vehicu­lar track from Kil­liehuntly Farm­house and then along the new access­ible path (approx­im­ately 230m). Vis­it­ors will leave their vehicles at Kil­liehuntly Farm­house and then walk or be driv­en to the bothy. It is con­sidered that this provides a suit­able means of access giv­en the nature of the accom­mod­a­tion and inten­tion for it to be an immers­ive, back to nature exper­i­ence. In addi­tion, as noted, the bothy will have an elec­tri­city and water sup­ply to bet­ter sup­port the vary­ing needs of vis­it­ors. Heat­ing will be provided by woodburner.
3. Policy 10: Resources requires devel­op­ments to have suit­able and safe water sup­plies and man­age waste water appro­pri­ately so as not to res­ult in the deteri­or­a­tion of water resources. Grey and waste water will be man­aged via a Biorock treat­ment sys­tem and soakaway. The bothy will also have a UDDT which will be emp­tied and man­aged by the Estate. Giv­en the nature of the devel­op­ment and that up to two vis­it­ors at any one time will just be stay­ing for short peri­ods of time, it is con­sidered that the bothy is appro­pri­ately ser­viced. All rubbish/​waste and main­ten­ance of the bothy will be

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 10/12/2021

under­taken by the Estate and we are sat­is­fied that no spe­cif­ic main­ten­ance require­ments are necessary.

1. Over­all it is con­sidered that the bothy is adequately ser­viced and has suit­able access pro­vi­sion and com­plies with Policy 3: Design and Place­mak­ing and Policy 10: Resources of the Cairngorms nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021.

CON­CLU­SION

1. It is con­sidered that this pro­pos­al for the erec­tion of the bothy and the form­a­tion of an access path is accept­able in land use plan­ning terms. The prin­ciple com­plies with Policy 2: Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment and whilst ini­tial issues in respect of impacts on eco­logy and grey water were raised, appro­pri­ate con­di­tions have been added to ensure there are not adverse impacts. Over­all it is con­sidered that the nature and design of the pro­pos­al is com­pat­ible with its sur­round­ings and sub­ject to pre- con­struc­tion sur­veys and imple­ment­a­tion of the asso­ci­ated Con­struc­tion Meth­od State­ment (as set out in the apprais­al and con­di­tioned) it is not con­sidered that there will be any sig­ni­fic­ant land­scape or eco­lo­gic­al impacts as a res­ult of the pro­pos­al and there­fore the applic­a­tion is con­sidered to com­ply with the Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan policies and is recom­men­ded for approval.

RECOM­MEND­A­TION

That Mem­bers of the Com­mit­tee sup­port a recom­mend­a­tion to the Erec­tion of bothy and form­a­tion of access track at Land 515M SE Of Farm­house Kil­liehuntly Kin­gussie 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.

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 5 10/12/2021

Con­di­tions

1. **No devel­op­ment shall com­mence on site until a pre-construction