Item6 Appendix3 HRA20200081DET

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Agenda Item 6 Appendix 3 26/06/2020

AGENDA ITEM 6

APPENDIX 3

2020/0081/DET

HAB­IT­ATS REG­U­LA­TIONS ASSESSMENT

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Hab­it­ats Reg­u­la­tions Assessment

2020/0081/DET Bad­aguish Out­door Centre

23/04/2020 This is a record that this HRA has been reappraised based on a new applic­a­tion to retain the 10 wig­wams for a fur­ther three years. Advice was sought from RSPB on levels of dis­turb­ance to a nearby lek and effect­ive­ness of the cur­rent Vis­it­or Recre­ation Man­age­ment Plan. The cur­rent advice (RSPB 22/4/20) was that the lek has remained stable for the last five years and that the cur­rent Vis­it­or Recre­ation Man­age­ment Plan was work­ing. There­fore we can still con­clude that there is no effect either dir­ect or indir­ect on the con­ser­va­tion object­ives and we can con­clude that there will be no adverse effect on the integ­rity of the Cairngorms SPA.

2017/0008/DET Bad­aguish Out­door Centre

15/02/2017

Intro­duc­tion This is a record of the assess­ment under reg­u­la­tion 48 of the Con­ser­va­tion (Nat­ur­al Hab­it­ats, &c.) Reg­u­la­tions 1994 (as amended) for the plan­ning applic­a­tion 2017/0008/DET at the Bad­aguish Out­door Centre.

This applic­a­tion is an applic­a­tion for 10 hol­i­day wig­wams at the Bad­aguish Out­door Centre. Con­sent has been pre­vi­ously giv­en for these wig­wams on the basis that they would be tem­por­ary. The ori­gin­al per­mis­sion for the 10 wig­wams- lapsed and a ret­ro­spect­ive plan­ning applic­a­tion was sub­mit­ted in 2016 (2015/0375/DET) to extend the time peri­od for this 10 wig­wams for a fur­ther year which was approved on a tem­por­ary basis. This plan­ning per­mis­sion is due to expire on 22 Feb­ru­ary 2017 and the applic­ant is now seek­ing to retain the wig­wams for a fur­ther 3 year peri­od. These tem­por­ary wig­wams are inten­ded to be in place for 3 years or until the con­sen­ted 35 wig­wams (plan­ning applic­a­tions 2015/0132/DET and 2015/0133/DET) are installed, whichever is soon­er. Some of the con­sen­ted 35 wig­wams are now in place, so that with the 10 tem­por­ary wig­wams, there is cur­rently a total of 18 wig­wams across the site. There are only inten­ded to be max­im­um of 35 wig­wams at the site at one time. The 10 wig­wams con­cerned by this applic­a­tion are cur­rently loc­ated with­in the Bad­aguish Out­door Centre com­plex, on developed land.

There are vis­it­or stat­ist­ics avail­able for 2013, 2014 and 2016 based on the usage of the exist­ing wig­wams. It is anti­cip­ated that the pro­pos­al will lead to an increase in vis­it­or num­bers and an increase in people using trails with­in the out­door centre and in the sur­round­ing Glen­more area.

The Bad­aguish Out­door Centre is used as a ​“hub” from which res­id­ents can access off-site activ­it­ies in the sur­round­ing area from a range of loc­al out­door activ­ity oper­at­ors. Because the centre does not employ instruc­tion­al staff, the major­ity of vis­it­ors are off-site dur­ing the day­time tak­ing part in out­door activ­it­ies away from the centre. The on-site facil­it­ies are mostly in use for low-key inform­al recre­ation in early morn­ings and even­ings. The excep­tion to this rule is dis­abled res­pite care vis­it­ors who spend more time at the centre and when there are lar­ger, organ­ised events which util­ise the trails and ground adja­cent to Bad­aguish. FCS has to be con­sul­ted on any events in order to avoid dis­turb­ance to wild­life and habitats.

A Vis­it­or Man­age­ment Plan (VMP) was included as part of the pre­vi­ous applic­a­tions 2015/0132/DET, 2015/0133/DET and 2015/0375/DET. The pur­pose of the VMP is to man­age the impacts on caper­cail­lie. The VMP includes meas­ures such as: • Addi­tion­al sig­nage at key access areas to alert people of sens­it­ive wild­life and to remain on paths • To ensure vis­it­ors enter­ing the site from out­side the centre and util­ising the trails keep their dogs under con­trol • To dis­cour­age the cre­ation of unau­thor­ised trails and to remove these where neces­sary • Brief­ing vis­it­ors on arrival of the sens­it­iv­ity of wild­life around the site and encour­age them to recre­ate responsibly

This VMP is now live as a res­ult of the pre­vi­ous con­sen­ted applic­a­tions and the first mon­it­or­ing report for the VMP was sub­mit­ted on the 31^st of Janu­ary 2017. The mon­it­or­ing report states that: • Vis­it­or num­bers for cur­rent wig­wam use are well below that anti­cip­ated when all 35 wig­wams are in place – this is to be expec­ted • All vis­it­ing groups are being briefed to envir­on­ment­al sens­it­ives (i.e. caper­cail­lie) on arrival • Use of FCS leaf­let of pro­moted trails is ongo­ing. There are plants to sup­ple­ment this with per­man­ent inter­pret­a­tion dis­play­ing FCS trails • Annu­al updates from FCS on sens­it­ive sites are reques­ted by Bad­aguish man­age­ment to inform man­age­ment of vis­it­ors • Sig­nage to encour­age people to stay on trails and keep on dogs on leads is now in place. There is believed to be an improve­ment in beha­viour by dog own­ers vis­it­ing the centre and neigh­bour­ing woods – it is believed that few dogs are observed off- lead • There is no evid­ence of emer­ging inform­al trials

Back­ground to the assess­ment The prin­cip­al doc­u­ments which have been taken into account for this assess­ment are: • Long Term Mas­ter­plan, draw­ing num­ber 3663 – 030 (2015/0132/DET and 2015/0133/DET) • Long Term Mas­ter­plan, draw­ing num­ber 3663 – 020 (wig­wam relo­ca­tion — 2015/0132/DET and 2015/0133/DET) • Site Lay­out — ​“10no. tem­por­ary wig­wams Bad­aguish Out­door Centre” ⁴¹¹¹⁄₀₆₂ • The Vis­it­or Man­age­ment Plan Ver­sion 5 (Novem­ber 2015) 2

• Sup­port­ing Inform­a­tion, Bracewell Stirl­ing, sub­mit­ted with applic­a­tion 2017/0008/DET • Bad­aguish Out­door Centre web­site www​.accom​mod​a​tion​at​bad​aguish​.org • Com­ment on Enforce­ment by RSPB (let­ter dated 08/09/2015) • FCS brood count and lekk data • Con­fid­en­tial reports and sur­veys on caper­cail­lie dis­tri­bu­tion in Rotheimurchus, Inshriach, Aber­nethy and Craigmore Wood. (T.Poole, FCS and RSPB 2013)*

• With­in this report the details of loc­a­tions of caper­cail­lie and their Lekking sites is gen­er­al­ised and the sur­veys above are not with­in the pub­lic domain. This is to pro­tect the birds from pos­sible dis­turb­ance that may res­ult from this inform­a­tion being widely dis­trib­uted. Con­sul­tees have been giv­en access to all information.

Table 1. Stages of Assessment

Stages of Assess­ment Stage I Decide wheth­er pro­pos­al is sub­ject to HRA Stage 2 Identi­fy Natura Sites that should be con­sidered and gath­er inform­a­tion about the Natura Sites Stage 3 Con­sulta­tion on the meth­od and scope of the apprais­al with SNH and oth­ers. Request addi­tion­al inform­a­tion from applic­ant if required. Stage 4 Screen­ing the pro­pos­al for likely sig­ni­fic­ant effects on Natura sites includ­ing mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures included with­in the pro­pos­al Stage 5 Screen for ​“in com­bin­a­tion effects” with oth­er plans or pro­jects Stage 6 Appro­pri­ate Assess­ment to determ­ine effect upon con­ser­va­tion object­ives. Pre­lim­in­ary con­clu­sion about adverse effect upon the integ­rity of any site. Stage 7 Con­sulta­tion with SNH (and oth­ers if con­sidered appro­pri­ate) Stage 8 Apply addi­tion­al mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures, if required, via con­di­tions or agree­ments to ensure that there is no adverse effect on site integ­rity Stage 9 Con­clu­sion on Integ­rity test Stage 10 Reg­u­la­tion 49 derog­a­tion pro­ced­ures. This only applies if adverse effects remain and Com­pet­ent Author­ity still wishes to approve the applic­a­tion 3

Stages 1 – 5 describ­ing the Natura sites and Screen­ing The pro­posed devel­op­ment is not wholly con­cerned with the neces­sary man­age­ment of a European site for nature con­ser­va­tion and requires plan­ning per­mis­sion and so the plans must be sub­ject to assess­ment under the terms of Dir­ect­ive 92/43/EEC.

Stages 2: Iden­ti­fic­a­tion of Natura Sites and gath­er­ing their details The list below is those sites that have been taken for­ward to screen­ing for likely sig­ni­fic­ant effects. See Appendix I for details on each site and its qual­i­fy­ing features.

Oth­er sites were con­sidered but have not been taken for­ward. For example, the River Spey SAC and Cairngorms SAC. There is no route to an effect for these sites through the con­struc­tion and oper­a­tion­al phase of the pro­pos­al and as such they have been ruled out of the assessment.

Spe­cial Pro­tec­tion Area (SPA) Cairngorms SPA Aber­nethy SPA Kin­veachy SPA Craigmore SPA Anagach SPA

Stage 3: Dis­cus­sions on the meth­od and scope of the apprais­al and requests for addi­tion­al inform­a­tion SNH com­men­ted on the VMP asso­ci­ated with the pre­vi­ous applic­a­tion for 35 wig­wams. SNH reques­ted addi­tion­al detail on mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures. This request was sup­por­ted by the CNPA Nation­al Her­it­age and Access teams. Forestry Com­mis­sion Scot­land are the landown­ers and have agreed to the meas­ures out­lined in the VMP.

SNH have provided advice on the scope of the HRA.

Addi­tion­al inform­a­tion was required in the form of brood count data from the FCS data set for Glenmore.

Stage 4: Screen­ing the pro­pos­al for likely sig­ni­fic­ant effects The effects iden­ti­fied as dis­cussed in Table 3. 4

Table 3. Screen­ing for LSE from Bad­aguish Out­door Centre (addi­tion­al wig­wams, camp­ing area and bike trails)

Cairngorms SPA Qual­i­fy­ing Pos­sible effect Likely sig­ni­fic­ant Dur­a­tion Screen­ing assess­ment Screen­ing Fea­ture Affected of devel­op­ment effect out­come Caper­cail­lie Increase in Dis­turb­ance to lekking, Tem­por­ary A small increase in use of the SPA which lies 300m Likely Significant

recreational activity in	brood rearing and feeding		from the site.	Effect
the form of walkers	habitats from informal
within Cairngorm SPA	recreational activity.		The 10 existing wigwams have been in place for 6
from users of new				years within an already well developed visitor area.
development. This is				The majority of visitors will be using organised
a direct effect.				outdoor activities off-site and outside of the SPAS.
					Visitors that remain on site during the day are specific
					groups using the site's facilities and present no risk (i.e.
					disabled groups).
					There is a lek within the SPA Ikm from the Badaguish
					Centre. The nearest brood rearing area within the
					SPA lies approximately 970m from the Badaguish
					centre in woodland off-track.
					The numbers of people recreating in
					mornings/afternoons/evenings predicted to low
					relative to the total number of visitors using the other
					facilities on site. However due to the close proximity
					of the SPA from the visitor centre there is a risk that
					some visitors could recreate within the SPA and cause
					disturbance to capercaillie.
Increase in	Disturbance to lekking,	Temporary	Pets are not allowed at the Badaguish Outdoor	No effect
recreational activity in	brood rearing and feeding		Centre site (camping or wigwams) Therefore there is

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the form of walkers	habitats from recreational		no effect from walkers with dogs as part of the
with dogs within	activity.				proposal.
Cairngorm SPA from
residents of new
development. This is
a direct effect.
Increase in	Disturbance to lekking,	Temporary	A small increase in use of the SPA which lies 300m	Likely Significant
recreational activity in	brood rearing and feeding		from the site.	Effect
the form of	habitats from informal
Mountain bikers	recreational activity in		The 10 existing wigwams have been in place for 6
within the Cairngorm	afternoon/evenings.			years within an already well developed visitor area.
SPA from residents of				The majority of visitors will be using organised
new development.				outdoor activities off-site and outside of the SPAS.
This is a direct				Visitors that remain on site during the day are specific
effect.					groups using the site's facilities and present no risk (i.e.
					disabled groups).
					There is a lek within the SPA Ikm from the Badaguish
					Centre. The nearest brood rearing area within the
					SPA lies approximately 970m from the Badaguish
					centre in woodland off-track.
					The numbers of people recreating in
					mornings/afternoons/evenings predicted to low
					relative to the total number of visitors using the other
					facilities on site. However due to the close proximity
					of the SPA from the visitor centre there is a risk that
					some visitors could recreate within the SPA and cause
					disturbance to capercaillie.
Increase in recreation	A reduction in productivity	Temporary	Abernethy Forest (5km away) – potential small	No effect
(walkers, walkers with	in neighbouring SPAs,			increase in occasional use of this SPA. Abernethy
dogs, mountain bikers)	reducing the viability of the		already experiences 40,000 visitors per year. The
in other SPAs that	meta population through			proposal of retaining the 10 wigwams for a further 3
support capercaillie.	decreased migration and			years (or until the capacity of 35 wigwams is reached -
This is an indirect	increased habitat				whichever is sooner) would present a very small
effect.			fragmentation.

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		addition to this figure. Given the distance from
		Badaguish this figure would be reduced further. There
		is already adequate provision for visitors at this site
		through managed footpaths, visitor centre and a trail
		warden. Therefore the effect of additional visitors
		from the proposal is deemed insignificant.
		Anagach Woods (20km away) – Given the distance of
		the proposal from this site and that it is not a
		promoted place to visit from Glenmore area, it is
		unlikely to be a destination for visitors at Badaguish.
		The effect of the proposal on this site is deemed
		insignificant.
		Craigmore Wood (12km away) - this SPA is not a
		popular destination with only one promoted path
		which skirts southern edge and no core paths. The
		proposal is unlikely to generate significant increase in
		users to paths; distance from development means it is
		unlikely to be a significant target destination. RSPB
		management strategy is to keep numbers low by
		promoting other less sensitive areas and not
		promoting access and car parking. The effect of the
		proposal on this site is deemed insignificant.
		Kinveachy Forest (8km away) – There is a well-
		developed estate path and track network which is
		used by walkers. Cyclists are largely kept away from
		the SPA from Aviemore side because of large deer
		fence that is crossed by stiles rather than gates.
		Alternative routes through Craigellachie NNR are well
		promoted and may 'intercept' significant proportion of
		potential walkers from the proposal. NCN7 runs
		below Kinveachy face outwith of SPA in this area.
		Given the distance from the proposal, and the low

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Increase in recreation	Reduction in productivity of	Temporary	number of potential visitors, the effect of the proposal	Likely significant
by walkers, dog	population reducing the		on this site is deemed insignificant.	effect (walkers and
walkers and	viability of meta-population					mountain bikers
mountain bikers	though decreased migration					only)
within Non-SPA	and in effect increased					The Sluggan track leads from Badaguish to Pityoulish.
woodland supporting	habitat fragmentation.					Recent inspection of Pityoulish shows no evidence of
capercaillie This is an					use of these woods by capercaillie. Infrequent
indirect effect.						migratory use may occur.
					There is a lek approximately Ikm from Badaguish
					outdoor centre. This has been increasing in size and is
					now at its peak of 8 lekking males.
					There is a smaller lekk in non-SPA woodland at a
					similar distance from the Badaguish outdoor centre.
					This lekk is thought to be a remnant and is likely to be
					related to other large lekk above.
					The area surrounding Badaguish is also known to
					support hens with brood. There are two records, one
					which lies adjacent to a forest track approximately
					600m from the Badaguish centre. The other lies
					approximately 970m from the Badaguish centre in
					woodland off-track.
					Proposal has potential to increase number of visitors
					using woodland surrounding Badaguish for recreation
					in afternoons/evenings, thus increasing risk of
					disturbance, particularly to capercaillie hens with
					brood.
					Pets are not allowed at the Badaguish Outdoor
					Centre site (camping or wigwams) Therefore there is
					no effect from walkers with dogs as part of the
					proposal.

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Increased participation	Reduction in productivity	Temporary	Large organised events are held annually from	No effect
in organised events	within Glenmore forest			Badaguish Outdoor Centre.
held at Badaguish,	population reducing the
using woodland	viability of meta-population		The Aviemore Half Marathon finishes at Badaguish.
surrounding the	though decreased migration		The Aviemore Triathlon starts and finishes at
centre (SPA and non-	and in effect increased		Badaguish and utilises woodland around the Badaguish
SPA). Direct and	habitat fragmentation.			centre.
indirect effects.
Disturbance to lekking,
brood rearing and feeding			The majority of participants will be staying off-site. The
habitats from recreational			scale of the proposal is unlikely to make a significant
activity in the SPA.			contribution to the numbers of participants attending
					these events.
					The applicant already has to have detailed consultation
					with the landowner, Forestry Commission Scotland,
					when arranging these events. Events already take into
					consideration the locations of areas important for
					capercaillie and take place outside of the breeding
					season.

Loss of trees with­in Dis­rup­tion to wood­land Tem­por­ary The wig­wams are exist­ing and no remov­al of hab­it­at is No effect the pro­pos­al area con­nectiv­ity with­in non-SPA required to retain them.

woodland

Con­struc­tion activ­ity Dis­turb­ance con­struc­tion of Tem­por­ary The wig­wams are exist­ing and no fur­ther con­struc­tion No effect

the site and installation of			works are required.
facilities

Scot­tish Cross­bill Increase in Dis­turb­ance to nest­ing sites Tem­por­ary There is no evid­ence that spe­cies affected by No effect

recreational activity	and foraging habitat			disturbance; species does not nest on the ground.
from residents of new					Therefore birds within SPA are not likely to be
development within					affected.
the SPA

Osprey Increase in Dis­turb­ance to nest­ing sites Tem­por­ary Nest sites are well man­aged and mon­itored by No effect

recreational activity					Rothiemurchus Estate. General recreation managed by
from residents of new

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development within					FCS and Rothiemurchus to encourage recreational
the SPA						access to promoted paths away from nest sites.

Dot­ter­el Increase in Increase dis­turb­ance to Tem­por­ary Nest sites are in remote uplands. The num­ber of vis­its No effect

recreational activity	nesting from more visitors			generated by the development is not likely to have an
from residents of new	to relevant habitats in the			effect.
development within	SPA
the SPA

Golden eagle Increase in Increase dis­turb­ance to Tem­por­ary Nest sites are in remote uplands. The num­ber of vis­its No effect

recreational activity	nesting from more visitors			generated by new development to the SPA is likely to
from residents of new	to relevant habitats in the			be very small and restricted to walkers and a few
development within	SPA					cyclists. Eagle nests are already in view of footpaths so
the SPA						some habituation is likely. The number of visits
					generated by the development is not likely to have an
					effect.

Mer­lin Increase in Increased dis­turb­ance to Tem­por­ary Nest sites are in remote upland sites in heath­er No effect

recreational activity	nesting sites				moorland. The number of visits from the development
from residents of new					is not likely to have an effect.
development within
the SPA

Per­eg­rine Increase in Increased dis­turb­ance to Tem­por­ary Nest sites are usu­ally on inac­cess­ible cliff faces away No effect

recreational activity	nesting sites				from footpaths, though sometimes within sight.
from residents of new					Tolerance to people varies between individual birds
development within					but habituation is significant in other sites near to
the SPA						Aviemore. The number of visits generated by the new
					development is not likely to have an effect.

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Kin­veachy Forest SPA, Aber­nethy Forest SPA, Craigmore Wood SPA, Anagach Woods SPA Qual­i­fy­ing Pos­sible effect of Likely sig­ni­fic­ant Dur­a­tion Screen­ing assess­ment Screen­ing Fea­ture devel­op­ment effect out­come Affected Caper­cail­lie Increase in recre­ation A reduc­tion in pro­ductiv­ity in Tem­por­ary Aber­nethy Forest (5km away) – poten­tial small No effect (all sites) (walk­ers, walk­ers with dogs, neigh­bour­ing SPAs, redu­cing increase in occa­sion­al use SPA. Aber­nethy already

mountain bikers) in these	the viability of the meta			experiences 40,000 visitors per year. The proposal
SPAs which support	population through decreased			of retaining 10 wigwams for a further 3 years (or
capercaillie. This is direct	migration and increased			until the capacity of 35 wigwams is reached
effect on these SPAs.	habitat fragmentation. This			whichever is sooner) would present a very small
		could have an effect upon the			addition to this figure. Given the distance from
		Cairngorms SPA				Badaguish this figure would be reduced further.
					There is already adequate provision for visitors at
					this site through managed footpaths, visitor centre
					and a trail warden. Therefore the effect of additional
					visitors from the proposal is deemed insignificant.
					Anagach Woods (20km away) – The distance of the
					proposal from this site, and given that it is not a
					promoted place to visit from Glenmore area, it is
					unlikely to be a destination for visitors at Badaguish.
					The effect of the proposal on this site is deemed
					insignificant.
					Craigmore Wood (12km away) - this SPA is not a
					popular destination with only one promoted path
					which skirts southern edge and no core paths. The
					proposal is unlikely to generate significant increase in
					users to paths; distance from development means it
					is unlikely to be a significant target destination. RSPB
					management strategy is to keep numbers low by

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		promoting other less sensitive areas and not
		promoting access and car parking. The effect of the
		proposal on this site is deemed insignificant.
		Kinveachy Forest (8km away) – There is a well-
		developed estate path and track network which is
		used by walkers. Cyclists are largely kept away from
		the SPA from Aviemore side because of large deer
		fence that is crossed by stiles rather than gates.
		Alternative routes through Craigellachie NNR are
		well promoted and may 'intercept' significant
		proportion of potential walkers from the proposal.
		NCN7 runs below Kinveachy face outwith of SPA in
		this area. Given the distance from the proposal, and
		the low number of potential visitors, the effect of
		the proposal on this site is deemed insignificant.

Caper­cail­lie Increase in recre­ation in A reduced dis­pers­al of birds Tem­por­ary Above screen­ing for the Cairngorms SPA shows Likely (all sites) Cairngorm SPA and non-SPA from Cairngorm SPA into Likely Sig­ni­fic­ant Effect, there­fore there could be an Significant

woodland, increased	these SPAs, thus reducing the			indirect effect on these SPAs from the development.	effect
disturbance reducing	viability and productivity in
productivity and subsequently	these SPAs.
a reduction in dispersal rate
to these SPAs. This is an
indirect effect on these
SPAS.

Scot­tish Increase in recre­ation­al Dis­turb­ance to nest­ing sites Tem­por­ary There is no evid­ence that spe­cies affected by No effect cross­bill activ­ity from res­id­ents of new and for­aging hab­it­at dis­turb­ance; spe­cies does not nest on the ground. (Kin­veachy SPA, devel­op­ment with­in the SPA There­fore birds with­in SPA are not likely to be Aber­nethy SPA) affected. Osprey Increase in recre­ation­al Dis­turb­ance to nest­ing sites Tem­por­ary Nest sites are well man­aged and mon­itored by RSPB. No effect (Aber­nethy SPA activ­ity from res­id­ents of new Gen­er­al recre­ation man­aged by RSPB to encour­age only) devel­op­ment with­in the SPA recre­ation­al access to pro­moted paths away from

					nest sites.

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Stage 5: In-com­bin­a­tion effects No rel­ev­ant Likely Insig­ni­fic­ant Effects (Minor Resid­ual Effects) iden­ti­fied dur­ing screen­ing in the fol­low­ing plans: • Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2015 – 2020 • An Camas Mor • Boat of Garten hous­ing • A9 dualling

Minor Resid­ual Effects were iden­ti­fied dur­ing Appro­pri­ate Assess­ment of the fol­low­ing pro­jects: • Plan­ning applic­a­tions 2015/0132/DET and 2015/0133/DET to erect 35 wig­wams at the Bad­aguish Out­door Centre. This MRE was iden­ti­fied on the con­ser­va­tion object­ive ​“No sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance to caper­cail­lie” for the Cairngorms SPA. This occurred both dir­ectly, and indir­ectly, through dis­turb­ance in sur­round­ing non-SPA wood­land • The same MRE was iden­ti­fied in the applic­a­tion 2015/0375/DET to retain 10 tem­por­ary wig­wams at the Bad­aguish Out­door Centre

The same Minor Resid­ual Effects has been iden­ti­fied dur­ing the Appro­pri­ate Assess­ment of the pro­pos­al (2017/0008/DET): • MRE on the con­ser­va­tion object­ive ​“No sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance to caper­cail­lie” for the Cairngorms SPA. This occurred both dir­ectly, and indir­ectly, through dis­turb­ance in sur­round­ing non-SPA woodland.

The MRE relates to the same pro­ject across all three applic­a­tions and still stands.

No MREs were iden­ti­fied in oth­er projects/​plans, there­fore there are no incom­bin­a­tion effects.

Stages 6 – 10 Assess­ment and Con­clu­sions Stage 6: Appro­pri­ate Assess­ment The pro­pos­als have been screened in Stages 4 and 5. It was found that there were likely sig­ni­fic­ant effects upon the qual­i­fy­ing interests of Nature sites. As such, an Appro­pri­ate Assess­ment was deemed necessary.

Cairngorms SPA Qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies and con­ser­va­tion status Caper­cail­lie: Favour­able Main­tained Per­eg­rine: Favour­able Main­tained 14

Dot­ter­el: Unfa­vour­able Declin­ing Golden eagle: Favour­able Main­tained Osprey: Favour­able Maintained

From SNH Site Link, 20/05/2015

Con­ser­va­tion object­ives To avoid deteri­or­a­tion of the hab­it­ats of the qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies (lis­ted above) 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 the site • Dis­tri­bu­tion and extent of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the spe­cies • Struc­ture, func­tion and sup­port­ing pro­cess of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the spe­cies • No sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance of the species

Is the oper­a­tion likely to have a sig­ni­fic­ant effect on the qual­i­fy­ing interest? Caper­cail­lie: Likely Sig­ni­fic­ant Effect Per­eg­rine: No Effect Dot­ter­el: No Effect Golden Eagle: No Effect Osprey: No Effect

Will the devel­op­ment adversely affect the site’s con­ser­va­tion object­ives? In this assess­ment, the implic­a­tions of the plan­ning applic­a­tion for the site’s con­ser­va­tion object­ives are assessed in order to answer the ques­tion: ​“Can it be ascer­tained that the pro­pos­al will not adversely affect the integ­rity of the site?”

The over-arch­ing con­ser­va­tion object­ive of SPAs is to avoid deteri­or­a­tion of the hab­it­ats of the qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies, or sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance to the qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies, thus ensur­ing that the integ­rity of the sites is main­tained. This over-arch­ing con­ser­va­tion object­ive can be broken down into the fol­low­ing detailed elements:

To ensure that the fol­low­ing are main­tained in the long term for the qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies: • Pop­u­la­tion of the spe­cies as a viable com­pon­ent of the sites • Dis­tri­bu­tion of the spe­cies with­in sites • Dis­tri­bu­tion and extent of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the spe­cies • Struc­ture, func­tion and sup­port­ing pro­cesses of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the spe­cies • No sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance of the spe­cies 15

In-com­bin­a­tion effects As described at Stage 5 (screen­ing); no in-com­bin­a­tion effects have been identified.

Assess­ment against the Con­ser­va­tion Objectives

Caper­cail­lie (dir­ect effects)

1. Pop­u­la­tion of the caper­cail­lie as a viable com­pon­ent of the sites A Likely Sig­ni­fic­ant Effect has been iden­ti­fied on the Cairngorms SPA by vis­it­ors to the pro­pos­al recre­at­ing in wood­land with­in the SPA. A lek site and brood rear­ing areas with­in the SPA are with­in walk­ing dis­tance of the Bad­aguish Centre and there is poten­tial for increased recre­ation­al dis­turb­ance in these areas.

Increased recre­ation­al dis­turb­ance could render this hab­it­at unsuit­able for caper­cail­lie, thus redu­cing the pop­u­la­tion of caper­cail­lie in this area and dis­turb­ance may also have an effect on pro­ductiv­ity by redu­cing either breed­ing or brood rear­ing success.

The VMP con­tains meas­ures to spe­cific­ally tar­get the effect of res­id­ents on the sur­round­ing wood­lands. These meas­ures include: • A no dogs policy in the wig­wam and camp­ing areas • Plant­ing along wood­land edge that will provide screen­ing of the north­ern part of the site and help min­im­ise dis­turb­ance, as well as provid­ing a nat­ur­al bar­ri­er to move­ment off-path • Signs at key access points advising vis­it­ors to stay on des­ig­nated tracks and avoid dis­turb­ance to wild­life • Brief­ing of all vis­it­ors on arrival by a res­id­ent warden

Wood­land sur­round­ing the Bad­aguish centre com­prises dense, semi-mature stands of com­mer­cial spruce and pine on rough ploughed ground with open drains which will deter those wan­der­ing off- path.

Des­pite the increase in num­ber of users to the site, these meas­ures will be applic­able to the whole of the site and so not only will they be suf­fi­cient to mit­ig­ate the effect of the new devel­op­ment but it is con­sidered that there will be a change in the beha­viour of users on the exist­ing devel­op­ment that will bene­fit the birds.

We have con­sidered the evid­ence and advice offered by SNH and oth­ers and con­cluded that the meas­ures out­lined in the VMP to man­age vis­it­ors will avoid sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance to caper­cail­lie with­in the Cairngorms SPA. Con­sequently there will be no adverse effect on this con­ser­va­tion objective.

1. Dis­tri­bu­tion and extent of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing caper­cail­lie and struc­ture, func­tion and sup­port­ing pro­cesses of hab­it­at sup­port­ing caper­cail­lie The pro­pos­al area lies out with the SPA and is not a wood­land site – being situ­ated with­in the already developed area of the out­door centre. There­fore there is no loss of sup­port­ing hab­it­at through the proposal.

We con­clude that there will be no adverse effect upon this con­ser­va­tion object­ive. 16

1. No sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance of caper­cail­lie There are three ways in which the pro­pos­al could cause increased dis­turb­ance to caper­cail­lie in the Cairngorms SPA: • An increase in walk­ers recre­at­ing in the Cairngorms SPA • An increase in moun­tain bikers recre­at­ing in the Cairngorms SPA • Either of the above using unau­thor­ised trails which could increase the area of dis­turb­ance in the Cairngorms SPA

An increase in walk­ers and moun­tain bikers and use of unau­thor­ised trails

Although the pro­vi­sion of addi­tion­al wig­wams through the pro­pos­al means that an increase in vis­it­ors to the site is expec­ted; due to the nature of activ­it­ies on the site, the major­ity of vis­it­ors are on organ­ised out­door activ­it­ies away from the site dur­ing the day­time in areas away from the Cairngorms SPA. Vis­it­ors may recre­ate around the site and in wood­land sur­round­ing Bad­aguish (includ­ing the SPA) in the morn­ings and even­ings, but this is likely to be a small pro­por­tion of the over­all vis­it­or numbers.

A Vis­it­or Man­age­ment Plan has been provided as part of the applic­a­tion which includes the fol­low­ing meas­ures which are cur­rently act­ive on the site: • Plant­ing along wood­land edge to screen the north­ern part of the site and help min­im­ise dis­turb­ance, as well as provid­ing a nat­ur­al bar­ri­er to move­ment off-path • Signs at key access points advising vis­it­ors to stay on des­ig­nated tracks and avoid dis­turb­ance to wild­life • Brief­ing of all vis­it­ors on arrival by a res­id­ent warden

There is poten­tial that vis­it­ors, par­tic­u­larly moun­tain bikers, could devel­op and use inform­al, unau­thor­ised trails which could increase the area of disturbance.

The Vis­it­or Man­age­ment Plan will pre­vent the estab­lish­ment of new unau­thor­ised trails and close exist­ing unau­thor­ised trails where necessary.

Even with these meas­ures in place, a Likely Sig­ni­fic­ant Effect caused by dis­turb­ance to caper­cail­lie through vis­it­ors dis­turb­ing a lek site or hens with brood can­not be ruled out entirely. There is still a chance that one per­son may wander off-path and dis­turb a lek site, but it not likely to be at a fre­quency to have an adverse effect.

The VMP details how the Bad­aguish Out­door Centre and Forestry Com­mis­sion Scot­land (FCS) – the landown­er – will work closely to mon­it­or vis­it­or beha­viour and identi­fy poten­tial man­age­ment issues which have poten­tial to impact caper­cail­lie. FCS update the Bad­aguish Out­door Centre annu­ally with details of leks and brood rear­ing areas so that these areas can be avoided. It is 17

pro­posed that a 6 monthly meet­ing between the two parties takes place to provide updates on vis­it­or behaviour/​numbers and were change may be necessary.

Appro­pri­ate action will be taken if mon­it­or­ing finds that Bad­aguish vis­it­ors are hav­ing an impact, before this becomes an adverse effect (i.e. the relo­ca­tion of a lek or fail­ure of brood).

We have con­sidered the evid­ence and advice offered by SNH and oth­ers and con­cluded that the pro­pos­al will have a Minor Resid­ual Effect (Likely Insig­ni­fic­ant Effect) to caper­cail­lie with­in the Cairngorms SPA. The meas­ures con­tained in the VMP will ensure that there will be no adverse effect dir­ectly upon this con­ser­va­tion objective.

Addi­tion­al mit­ig­a­tion No fur­ther mit­ig­a­tion is required.

Likely insig­ni­fic­ant effects There are none.

Con­clu­sion on site integ­rity We have assessed the impact of the devel­op­ment and found there to be no effect on any of the con­ser­va­tion object­ives. There­fore we con­clude that there will be no adverse effect on the integ­rity of the Cairngorms SPA.

Aber­nethy SPA, Anagach Woods SPA, Craigmore Woods SPA, Kin­veachy SPA Qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies — Is the oper­a­tion likely to have a sig­ni­fic­ant effect on the qual­i­fy­ing interest? Scot­tish Cross­bill (Aber­nethy SPA, Kin­veachy SPA): No effect Osprey (Aber­nethy SPA only): no effect Caper­cail­lie (all sites): Like Sig­ni­fic­ant Effect

Con­ser­va­tion object­ives To avoid deteri­or­a­tion of the hab­it­ats of the qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies (lis­ted above) 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 the site • Dis­tri­bu­tion and extent of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the spe­cies • Struc­ture, func­tion and sup­port­ing pro­cess of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the spe­cies 18

• No sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance of the species

Will the devel­op­ment adversely affect the site’s con­ser­va­tion object­ives? In this assess­ment, the implic­a­tions of the plan­ning applic­a­tion for the site’s con­ser­va­tion object­ives are assessed in order to answer the ques­tion: ​“Can it be ascer­tained that the pro­pos­al will not adversely affect the integ­rity of the site?”

The over-arch­ing con­ser­va­tion object­ive of SPAs is to avoid deteri­or­a­tion of the hab­it­ats of the qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies, or sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance to the qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies, thus ensur­ing that the integ­rity of the sites is main­tained. This over-arch­ing con­ser­va­tion object­ive can be broken down into the fol­low­ing detailed elements:

To ensure that the fol­low­ing are main­tained in the long term for