Item5Appendix2HRADETGlenClova

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Agenda Item 5 Appendix 2 25/03/2022

AGENDA ITEM 5

APPENDIX 2

2021/0168/DET

HAB­IT­ATS REG­U­LA­TIONS APPRAISAL

HAB­IT­ATS REG­U­LA­TIONS APPRAISAL

Plan­ning ref­er­ence and pro­pos­al information	2021/0168/DET Erec­tion of 8 hol­i­day lodges and plant/​storage build­ing, form­a­tion of vehicu­lar access, park­ing and turn­ing areas, install­a­tion of sewage treat­ment plant and sur­face water soakaways, land north west of Clova Hotel, Glen Clova, Angus
Appraised by	Nina Caudrey – Plan­ning Officer
Date	5 August 2021 (reviewed 15 March 2022 in rela­tion to minor alter­a­tions to pro­posed layout)
Checked by	NatureScot
Date	xxxx 2022

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INFORM­A­TION
European site details
Name of European site(s) poten­tially affected
1) River South Esk SAC
2) Cairngorms Mas­sif SPA
Qual­i­fy­ing interest(s)
1) River South Esk SAC
Atlantic sal­mon
Fresh­wa­ter pearl mussel
2) Cairngorms Mas­sif SPA
Golden eagle (breed­ing)
Con­ser­va­tion object­ives for qual­i­fy­ing interests
1) River South Esk SAC
Con­ser­va­tion Object­ive 2. To ensure that the integ­rity of the River South Esk SAC is restored by meet­ing object­ives 2a, 2b, 2c for each qual­i­fy­ing fea­ture (and 2d 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
2d. 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. 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
Con­ser­va­tion Object­ive I. To ensure that the qual­i­fy­ing fea­tures of the River South Esk SAC are in favour­able con­di­tion and make an appro­pri­ate con­tri­bu­tion to achiev­ing favour­able con­ser­va­tion status
2) Cairngorms Mas­sif 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:

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• 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
• Pop­u­la­tion of the spe­cies as a viable com­pon­ent of the site

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APPRAIS­AL
STAGE 1:
What is the plan or project?
Rel­ev­ant sum­mary details of pro­pos­al (includ­ing loc­a­tion, tim­ing, meth­ods, etc)
Erec­tion of 8 hol­i­day lodges and plant/​storage build­ing, form­a­tion of vehicu­lar access, park­ing and turn­ing areas, install­a­tion of sewage treat­ment plant and sur­face water soakaways, land north west of Clova Hotel, Glen Clova, Angus
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 South Esk SAC
The closest part of the River South Esk SAC is approx­im­ately 350m from the south­ern bound­ary of the pro­posed devel­op­ment site.
There is a drain­age ditch marked on the plans, run­ning into the middle of pro­posed devel­op­ment site from the north and along­side the exist­ing access track to the east. It is not clear where this drain­age ditch dis­charges to although from the plans and aer­i­al imagery it appears to end upslope of the exist­ing build­ing named on plans as Arntib­ber. There also appears to be a small watercourse/​drainage ditch along the south­ern (downslope) side of the stone wall that is approx­im­ately 18m from the closest part of the south­ern bound­ary of the pro­posed devel­op­ment site. The watercourse/​drainage ditch appears to run down to the south­w­est through a field, then under the pub­lic road and through fur­ther fields, into the River South Esk SAC.
Due to the prox­im­ity to the watercourse/​drainage ditch con­nec­ted to the SAC, and the uncer­tain dis­charge point (and so poten­tial for SAC con­nectiv­ity), there is a risk that sed­i­ment released dur­ing con­struc­tion works could reach the watercourse/​drainage ditch and so SAC. There­fore there is poten­tial for a likely sig­ni­fic­ant effect through sed­i­ment release caus­ing pol­lu­tion, affect­ing water quality.
In terms of waste water col­lec­tion and treat­ment, this would be through a water treat­ment plant to soakaway. The closest point of the soakaway would be approx­im­ately 24 metres from the closest point of poten­tial con­nectiv­ity to the SAC (the exist­ing drain­age ditch on the downslope side of the exist­ing stone wall). As NatureScot advice is that addi­tion­al nutri­ent man­age­ment would be required for soakaways with­in 10m of fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­sel SACs, there would be no likely sig­ni­fic­ant effect from the pro­posed waste water treatment

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sys­tem as the pro­posed sys­tem is out­with that distance.

1. Cairngorms Mas­sif SPA

The bound­ary of the SPA runs along just out­with the south­ern edge of the exist­ing access track, which would end up being part of the devel­op­ment site under the lodges, with a new replace­ment access track encroach­ing fur­ther into the SPA. There­fore there is poten­tial for a likely sig­ni­fic­ant effect through for­aging hab­it­at loss and dis­turb­ance if eagle were nest­ing nearby.

STAGE 4:

Under­take an Appro­pri­ate Assess­ment of the implic­a­tions for the site(s) in view of the(ir) con­ser­va­tion objectives

1. River Spey SAC

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

1. Restore the dis­tri­bu­tion of fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­sel through­out the site

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

3. Restore the dis­tri­bu­tion and viab­il­ity of fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­sel host spe­cies and their sup­port­ing habitats

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

5. Restore the dis­tri­bu­tion of Atlantic sal­mon through­out the site

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

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

Con­ser­va­tion Object­ive 1. To ensure that the qual­i­fy­ing fea­tures of the River South Esk SAC are in favour­able con­di­tion and make an appro­pri­ate con­tri­bu­tion to achiev­ing favour­able con­ser­va­tion status

Due to the prox­im­ity to the downslope watercourse/​drainage ditch con­nec­ted to the SAC, and the uncer­tain dis­charge point (and so poten­tial for SAC con­nectiv­ity), there is a risk that sed­i­ment released dur­ing con­struc­tion works could reach the watercourse/​drainage ditch and so SAC. This would cause silta­tion, which could smoth­er hab­it­ats relied upon by fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­sel, their food and host spe­cies, as well as affect­ing water quality.

This would harm the hab­it­ats sup­port­ing and affect the dis­tri­bu­tion of fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­sel and their host spe­cies, includ­ing Atlantic sal­mon. In turn this would pre­vent the res­tor­a­tion of the pop­u­la­tion of both spe­cies as a viable com­pon­ent of the SAC. All the con­ser­va­tion objectives

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would be failed for the SAC.

How­ever, stand­ard good prac­tice pol­lu­tion pre­ven­tion and con­trol meas­ures tailored to the devel­op­ment site would reduce the risk of sed­i­ment reach­ing the SAC to a min­im­al level such that the con­ser­va­tion object­ives could be met. A Con­struc­tion Meth­od State­ment would be required for devel­op­ment in the pro­posed loc­a­tion, detail­ing the pol­lu­tion pre­ven­tion and con­trol meas­ures that would be used dur­ing con­struc­tion to pre­vent sed­i­ment release caus­ing pol­lu­tion, par­tic­u­larly dur­ing wet weath­er, reach­ing the watercourse/​drainage ditch and SAC.

1. Cairngorms Mas­sif SPA

Dis­tri­bu­tion of the spe­cies with­in site

The pro­posed devel­op­ment site and sur­round­ing area is in prox­im­ity to a cluster of exist­ing build­ings, includ­ing the Clova hotel and the pro­moted path to Loch Brandy. There­fore the area already exper­i­ences a level of human activ­ity that is likely to deter golden eagle from for­aging or breed­ing in the vicin­ity of the pro­posed devel­op­ment site. While the devel­op­ment site and sur­round­ing land might provide hab­it­at for rab­bits and oth­er prey spe­cies of golden eagle, the com­par­at­ively small area of farmed grass­land hab­it­at that would be lost to the pro­posed devel­op­ment is unlikely to be of import­ance to the golden eagle pop­u­la­tion. There­fore the dis­tri­bu­tion of the spe­cies of the site should not be affected and so this con­ser­va­tion object­ive would be met.

Dis­tri­bu­tion and extent of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the species

Struc­ture, func­tion and sup­port­ing pro­cesses of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the species

Hab­it­at under­neath the small area of the pro­posed devel­op­ment site with­in the SPA appears to be of low value to prey spe­cies to golden eagle, there­fore the dis­tri­bu­tion of and extent of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the spe­cies should not be affected. There­fore this con­ser­va­tion object­ive would be met.

No sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance of the species

Due to the exist­ing land uses, levels of human activ­ity (includ­ing an exist­ing hotel provid­ing accom­mod­a­tion for hol­i­day­makers and the pro­moted path to Loch Brandy), as well as the low value (to golden eagle and their prey) hab­it­at type, it is unlikely this area is relied upon by golden eagle for either for­aging or breed­ing. So there would not be any sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance of the spe­cies. There­fore this con­ser­va­tion object­ive would be met.

Pop­u­la­tion of the spe­cies as a viable com­pon­ent of the site

As all the oth­er con­ser­va­tion object­ives have been met for the SPA, there would be no effect on the pop­u­la­tion of the spe­cies as a viable com­pon­ent of the site. There­fore this con­ser­va­tion object­ive would be met.

STAGE 5:

Can it be ascer­tained that there will not be an adverse effect on site integrity?

1. River South Esk SAC

Provided the below con­di­tion is applied to plan­ning per­mis­sion (should per­mis­sion be gran­ted) requir­ing a CMS, then the con­ser­va­tion object­ives would be met and there would not be an

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adverse effect on site integrity:

Con­di­tion: A detailed Con­struc­tion Meth­od State­ment to be agreed in writ­ing with CNPA pri­or to con­struc­tion start­ing, detail­ing pol­lu­tion pre­ven­tion and con­trol meas­ures to pre­vent sed­i­ment enter­ing watercourses/​drainage ditches dur­ing construction.

Reas­on: To ensure pol­lu­tion does not enter the River South Esk SAC and so avoid an adverse effect on site integrity.

1. Cairngorms Mas­sif SPA

As all the con­ser­va­tion object­ives would be met, there would not be an adverse effect on site integ­rity for the Cairngorms Mas­sif SPA.

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