Item5Appendix2HRA20210167DETDalraddy

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Agenda Item 5 Appendix 2 28/01/2022

AGENDA ITEM 5

APPENDIX 2

2021/0167/DET

HAB­IT­ATS REG­U­LA­TIONS APPRAISAL

HAB­IT­ATS REG­U­LA­TIONS APPRAISAL

Plan­ning ref­er­ence and pro­pos­al information	2021/0167/DET Exten­sion of exist­ing Dalraddy hol­i­day park — 36 pitches, erec­tion of two amen­ity blocks, reconfiguration/​additional 49 park­ing spaces and asso­ci­ated access tracks, Dalraddy Cara­van Park, Aviemore, PH22 IQB
Appraised by	Nina Caudrey – Plan­ning Officer Alan Atkins — Plan­ning Officer
Date	05/08/2021
Checked by	Kirsty North, NatureScot
Date	24/08/2021

INFORM­A­TION

European site details
Name of European site(s) poten­tially affected
1. River Spey SAC
2. River Spey – Insh Marshes SPA
3. River Spey – Insh Marshes Ram­sar site
Qual­i­fy­ing interest(s)
1. River Spey SAC	Atlantic sal­mon, fresh water pearl mus­sel, sea lamprey and otter
2. River Spey – Insh Marshes SPA	Breed­ing: osprey, spot­ted crake, wigeon and wood sand­piper; non-breed­ing: hen har­ri­er, whoop­er swan
3. River Spey – Insh Marshes Ram­sar site	Breed­ing bird assemblage (osprey, spot­ted crake, wood sand­piper, black headed gull); non- breed­ing whoop­er swan; meso­trop­ic loch, flood plain fen, troph­ic range river/​stream

Con­ser­va­tion object­ives for qual­i­fy­ing interests

1. River Spey SAC:

Con­ser­va­tion Object­ive 2. To ensure that the integ­rity of the River Spey SAC is restored by meet­ing object­ives 2a, 2b, 2c for each qual­i­fy­ing fea­ture (and 2^d for fresh­wa­ter pearl mussel):

2b. Restore the dis­tri­bu­tion of fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­sel through­out the site

2c. Restore the hab­it­ats sup­port­ing fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­sel with­in the site and avail­ab­il­ity of food

2^d. Restore the dis­tri­bu­tion and viab­il­ity of fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­sel host spe­cies and their sup­port­ing habitats

2a. Restore the pop­u­la­tion of fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­sel as a viable com­pon­ent of the site

2b. Main­tain the dis­tri­bu­tion of sea lamprey through­out the site

2c. Main­tain the hab­it­ats sup­port­ing sea lamprey with­in the site and avail­ab­il­ity of food

2a. Main­tain the pop­u­la­tion of sea lamprey as a viable com­pon­ent of the site

2b. Restore the dis­tri­bu­tion of Atlantic sal­mon through­out the site

2c. Restore the hab­it­ats sup­port­ing Atlantic sal­mon with­in the site and avail­ab­il­ity of food

2a. Restore the pop­u­la­tion of Atlantic sal­mon, includ­ing range of genet­ic types, as a viable com­pon­ent of the site

2b. Main­tain the dis­tri­bu­tion of otter through­out the site

2c. Main­tain the hab­it­ats sup­port­ing otter with­in the site and avail­ab­il­ity of food

2a. Main­tain the pop­u­la­tion of otter as a viable com­pon­ent of the site

Con­ser­va­tion Object­ive I. To ensure that the qual­i­fy­ing fea­tures of the River Spey SAC are in favour­able con­di­tion and make an appro­pri­ate con­tri­bu­tion to achiev­ing favour­able con­ser­va­tion status

1. River Spey – Insh Marshes SPA

To avoid deteri­or­a­tion of the hab­it­ats of the qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies or sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance to the qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies, thus ensur­ing that the integ­rity of the site is main­tained; and

To ensure for the qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies that the fol­low­ing are main­tained in the long term:

• Pop­u­la­tion of the spe­cies as a viable com­pon­ent of the site
• Dis­tri­bu­tion of the spe­cies with­in site
• Dis­tri­bu­tion and extent of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the species
• Struc­ture, func­tion and sup­port­ing pro­cesses of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the species
• No sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance of the species

1. River Spey – Insh Marshes Ram­sar site

There are no con­ser­va­tion object­ives for Ram­sar sites, how­ever it is con­sidered that by meet­ing the object­ives for the over­lap­ping SPA, then the integ­rity of the Ram­sar site would also be con­served. There­fore the assess­ment of the SPA is deemed a sur­rog­ate for assess­ment of the Ram­sar site.

APPRAIS­AL
STAGE 1:
What is the plan or project?
Rel­ev­ant sum­mary details of pro­pos­al (includ­ing loc­a­tion, tim­ing, meth­ods, etc)	36 pitches, erec­tion of two amen­ity blocks, reconfiguration/​additional 49 park­ing spaces, and asso­ci­ated access tracks. Waste water will be col­lec­ted in sealed sep­tic tanks with reg­u­lar off site disposal.
STAGE 2:
Is the plan or pro­ject dir­ectly con­nec­ted with or neces­sary for the man­age­ment of the European site for nature conservation?
No.
STAGE 3:
Is the plan or pro­ject (either alone or in-com­bin­a­tion with oth­er plans or pro­jects) likely to have a sig­ni­fic­ant effect on the site(s)?
1. River Spey SAC
2. River Spey – Insh Marshes SPA
3. River Spey – Insh Marshes Ram­sar site
	The closest part of the River Spey SAC is approx­im­ately 500m to the south of the pro­posed devel­op­ment site bound­ary, with the east­ern bound­ary of the River Spey – Insh Marshes SPA (and Ram­sar site) loc­ated to the west approx­im­ately a fur­ther 500m upstream.
	There is no dir­ect water­course con­nectiv­ity between the pro­posed devel­op­ment site and the River Spey SAC or the River Spey – Insh Marshes SPA (or the Ram­sar site). As sewage and waste water will be col­lec­ted in sep­tic tanks for dis­pos­al off site, there is no indir­ect con­nectiv­ity through waste water discharge/​nutrient enrich­ment. Due to the dis­tance, inter­ven­ing veget­ated ground and exist­ing hol­i­day park infra­struc­ture, no sed­i­ment released dur­ing ground works would reach the SAC.
	For the same reas­ons, and because the River Spey — Insh Marshes SPA (and Ram­sar site) is upstream of the pro­posed devel­op­ment site, there would be no likely sig­ni­fic­ant effect on water qual­ity of the SPA (or Ram­sar site).
	Vis­it­ors to the hol­i­day park are unlikely not to fol­low the same pat­terns of beha­viour and activ­it­ies as exist­ing vis­it­ors. Being hol­i­day­makers, vis­it­ors to the hol­i­day park are likely to under­take activ­it­ies at exist­ing hubs of activ­ity in the wider area (such as pro­moted walk­ing routes, out­door activ­ity centres and tour­ist attrac­tions), rather than cre­at­ing dis­turb­ance in areas with low levels of human activ­ity. In addi­tion, they are unlikely to all go to the same place at the same time. There­fore, the addi­tion­al human activ­ity would not be at a detect­able level, and so there would not be a likely sig­ni­fic­ant effect on the qual­i­fy­ing interests of the River Spey SAC or

River Spey — Insh Marshes SPA (or Ram­sar site) through disturbance.

In con­clu­sion, there would be no likely sig­ni­fic­ant effects on the River Spey SAC or the River Spey – Insh Marshes SPA (and so no effects on the Ram­sar site), and so no fur­ther assess­ment is required.

STAGE 4:
Under­take an Appro­pri­ate Assess­ment of the implic­a­tions for the site(s) in view of the(ir) con­ser­va­tion objectives
STAGE 5:
Can it be ascer­tained that there will not be an adverse effect on site integrity?