Item6AABalavilFarm20200236DETand20200241LBC

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 6 26/02/2021

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHORITY

DEVEL­OP­MENT PROPOSED: Con­ver­sion of farm build­ings to vis­it­or facil­it­ies and com­mer­cial use, exten­sions, form­a­tion of café and park­ing (renew­al of plan­ning per­mis­sion 2016/0153/DET and of lis­ted build­ing con­sent 2016/0143/LBC) at Stead­ing Bal­avil Mains Farm­house Kingussie

REF­ER­ENCE: 2020/0236/DET and 2020/0241/LBC

APPLIC­ANT: Bal­avil Estate

DATE CALLED-IN: 12 Octo­ber 2020

RECOM­MEND­A­TION: Approve, sub­ject to conditions

CASE OFFICER: Stephanie Wade, Plan­ning Officer

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W 240 CNPA Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Applic­a­tion Site 0 15 30 60 Meters Bal­avil 280 Foun­tain­head The Ken­nels Bal­avil Cot­tage Mains of Bal­avil N Bal­avil Gate Lodge Lo Duble Meml Chapel­park In 20 Path (um) Crown copy­right and data­base rights 2021. Ord­nance Sur­vey Licence num­ber 100040965 স স A9 CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 6 26/02/2021 Mains of Bal­avil 224.3m B9152 000 Bel­leu Cott 2

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 6 26/02/2021

SITE DESCRIP­TION, PRO­POS­AL AND HISTORY

Site Descrip­tion

1. The applic­a­tion site is loc­ated to the east of Kin­gussie and Lyn­chat dir­ectly to the north of the A9 Trunk Road, of which access is presently taken via an exist­ing track which leads into the wider Bal­avail Estate. This track also leads west­wards and then under the A9 back to Lynchat.

2. Mains of Bal­avil is a stead­ing and farm­house com­plex loc­ated with­in Bal­avil Estate. The stead­ing is cur­rently used for stor­age with the farm­house under­stood to have been occu­pied in recent years. It is a cat­egory B lis­ted build­ing of archi­tec­tur­al and his­tor­ic interest com­pris­ing roughly U shaped stone and slate stead­ing includ­ing stable block and bell tower. This build­ing is attached at the west­ern end to a two storey slate and harl with lime wash fin­ish farm­house, with pitched roof front porch and I ¹⁄₂ and single storey wings. There is also a cart shed build­ing to the rear (north) of the com­plex, and a cobbled court­yard at the front (south) of the stead­ings. The build­ings are in poor repair. Some ancil­lary build­ings and walls are loc­ated in and around the cur­til­age includ­ing derel­ict mill build­ing. The site is accessed by an exist­ing track on its east­ern peri­met­er which joins onto the A9 to the south.

3. There is a band of trees between the site and the A9, with fur­ther trees lin­ing the Raits Burn which runs along­side the west­ern bound­ary of the site. To the north is grass­land with some trees, and to the east farm­land of the Bal­avil Estate. To the north­w­est is an exist­ing prop­erty with walled garden which is part of the wider Bal­avil Estate.

4. The Raits Burn forms part of the River Spey Spe­cial Area of Con­ser­va­tion (SAC) des­ig­nated for otter, Atlantic sal­mon, sea lamprey and fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­sel interests.

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=QHTWPRSI0CH00

http://​www​.eplan​ningcnpa​.co​.uk/​o​n​line- applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=QHXIN5SI0CH00

Sub­mit­ted with Renewal

Title	Draw­ing Num­ber	Date on Plan*	Date Received
Plans
Loc­a­tion Plan	50579⁄101	10 Septem­ber 2020	12 Octo­ber 2020

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 6 26/02/2021

Sup­port­ing

Updated Eco­logy Report	Ver­sion 2	08 Septem­ber 2020	12 Octo­ber 2020
Updated Bat Sur­vey Report		01 August 2020	15 Octo­ber 2020
Spe­cies Pro­tec­tion Plan		01 Septem­ber 2020	15 Octo­ber 2020
Con­tam­in­ated Land Questionnaire		25 Novem­ber 2020	26 Novem­ber 2020

Sub­mit­ted with ori­gin­al applic­a­tions (2016/0153/DET and 2016/0143/LBC)

Title	Draw­ing Num­ber	Date on Plan*
South — East Elev­a­tions Existing	(EX‑E)01-A3	29 April 2016
North-West Elev­a­tions Existing	(EX‑E)02-A3	29 April 2016
South-West Elev­a­tions Existing	(EX‑E)03-A3	29 April 2016
North-West Elev­a­tions Existing	(EX‑E)04-A3	29 April 2016
Elev­a­tions Key	(E)00-A3	29 April 2016
Sur­vey	(EX‑P)00	30 March 2016
Exist­ing features	(EX‑M)00 – 03	24 Octo­ber 2016
Ground Floor Plan Archi­tec­tur­al Details of Interest	(EX‑P) 00-A3	29 April 2016
Ground Floor Plan Existing	(EX‑P)00-A3	29 April 2016
Roof Plan/​First Floor Plan Existing	(EX‑P)02-A3	29 April 2016
Ground Floor Plan DownTaking	(DT‑P) 00-A3	29 April 2016
Roof Plan/​First Floor Plan Down-Taking	(DT‑P) 02-A3	29 April 2016
Site Plan Proposed	℗ L2-AI Rev D	14 Janu­ary 2017
Ground Floor Plan Proposed	℗ 00-A3 Rev A	16 August 2017
Roof Plan/​First Floor Plan Proposed	℗ 01-A1	29 April 2016
Roof Plan/​First Floor Plan proposed	℗ 02-AI	29 April 2016
South-East Elev­a­tions Proposed	(E) 01-A3 Rev A	14 Septem­ber 2017
North-West Elev­a­tions Proposed	(E) 02-A3 Rev A	14 Septem­ber 2017
South-West Elev­a­tions Proposed	(E) 03-A3 Rev A	14 Septem­ber 2017
North-West Elev­a­tions Proposed	(E) 04-A3 Rev A	14 Septem­ber 2017
Windows/​Doors Proposed	(E) 05 –A3	02 May 2016
Land­scape Gen­er­al Arrangement	6917 LD PLN 001 Rev G	05 Decem­ber 2017
Tree Con­straints Plan		29 Septem­ber 2016
Tree Pro­tec­tion Plan	Revi­sion F	16 Novem­ber 2017
Tree Sur­vey Schedule

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 6 26/02/2021

Arbor­i­cul­tur­al Impact Assessment/​Method State­ment	Revi­sion G	06 Decem­ber 2017
Mains of Bal­avil Farm — Pol­lu­tion Control	Ver­sion 1.2	10 Octo­ber 2016
Meas­ures to be incor­por­ated within
Con­struc­tion Meth­od State­ment by Atmos
Con­sult­ing
Orni­tho­lo­gic­al Sur­vey Report		05 Octo­ber 2016
Orni­tho­lo­gic­al Pro­tec­tion Plan		05 Octo­ber 2016
Otter Sur­vey Version	1.2	10 Octo­ber 2016
Otter Spe­cies Pro­tec­tion Plan
Pre­lim­in­ary Bat Roost Assessment	Ver­sion 1.2	07 July 2016
Bat Activ­ity Surveys	Ver­sion 1.2	06 Octo­ber 2016
Bat Spe­cies Pro­tec­tion Plan	Ver­sion 1.4	10 Novem­ber 2017
Land­scape Pro­pos­als Design Statement	Ver­sion 04	05 Decem­ber 2017
Flood Risk Assessment	20379	21 Octo­ber 2016
Ori­gin­al Topo­graph­ic survey	20379 Plan A	01 Septem­ber 2017
Addi­tion­al Co-ordin­ates and Water Levels	20379 Plan B	01 Septem­ber 2017
A9 Water Flow Route	20379 Plan C	01 Septem­ber 2017
Revised Flood Study Calculations		01 Septem­ber 2017
Drain­age Impact Assess­ment and Design	20379	01 Septem­ber 2017
and Appen­dices
Flood Risk Assess­ment Addendum Report	20379	26 Janu­ary 2017
Indic­at­ive Drain­age Layout	20379- SK200 Rev B	12 Janu­ary 2017
Pro­posed Drain­age Details	20379- SK201 Rev A	12 Janu­ary 2017
Plan­ning Con­sult­ant Comments
Design and Access Statement
Jus­ti­fic­a­tion and response to issues raised
by Mor­ris Stead­man Asso­ci­ates Jan 2017
His­tor­ic Designed Land­scapes Pro­ject Site		01 May 2013
Research Report 03 Balavil
Retail State­ment	BALI	01 Sept 2016
Open Day feedback		11 Septem­ber 2016
Pho­to­graphs of building
Trans­port Statement	20379 Revi­sion B	28 August 2017
Drain­age Strategy	20379	12 Janu­ary 2017
MSA response to consultees	Rev A
Design and Access State­ment Sustainable		12 Septem­ber 2017
Design — Policy 3 Revised
Phase I Site Investigation	1016-001	06 Octo­ber 2016

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 6 26/02/2021

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

1. These two applic­a­tions (plan­ning per­mis­sion and lis­ted build­ing con­sent) are sub­mit­ted for the renew­al of a timeous per­mis­sion and lis­ted build­ing con­sent ref­er­enced 2016/0153/DET and 2016/0143/LBC, which gained con­sent for the ​“Con­ver­sion of redund­ant farm build­ings to vis­it­or facil­it­ies and com­mer­cial use, includ­ing alter­a­tions and exten­sion of exist­ing struc­tures. Con­struc­tion of new build­ings for café, cater­ing and events use, form­a­tion of vehicle park­ing areas” at Bal­avil Mains Farm­house, Kin­gussie. The ori­gin­al applic­a­tions were approved at the Janu­ary 2018 CNPA Plan­ning Com­mit­tee and decision notices issues on approved on 31 Janu­ary 2018.

2. This report cov­ers both applic­a­tions with indi­vidu­al recom­mend­a­tions at the end of the report for the two decision notices which will require to be issued. The renew­al applic­a­tions have been sub­mit­ted to extend the decision peri­od for the devel­op­ment which is required due to the ongo­ing nego­ti­ations the estate has with the A9 Dualling Scheme.

3. The renew­al applic­a­tions pro­pose no changes to the scheme as approved which is out­lined below in full, for reference:

   a) Alter­a­tions to and con­ver­sion of exist­ing farm­house to form estate

   interpretation and office facilities. Existing front porch and dormer features
   will be removed together with rear extension;
   

   b) Alter­a­tions and con­ver­sion of stead­ing build­ings to form farm shop and estate

   shop facilities- total floorspace 286 square metres. This will involve an
   extension to the east of the existing steading complex to provide for an
   additional wing which will house the farm shop provision. It is also proposed
   to create "pend” type openings in the main northern elevation of the steading
   building to facilitate pedestrian access through from the car parking area to
   the main complex;
   

   c) A new build­ing is pro­posed to the north of the exist­ing com­plex measuring

   some 33 metres by 6 metres. This will be constructed against an existing
   stone wall and will be of a pitched roof design with timber elevations. It will
   house the café and visitor toilet facilities with provision for outdoor seating
   for 16 tables. The floorspace of the café area is 210 square metres with the
   plans indicating a total of 18 tables within this space;
   

   d) Exten­sion and renov­a­tion of the exist­ing, dilap­id­ated mill build­ing in the north-

   west corner of the site to provide for mill and events spaces of around 200
   metres. The existing building will be extended southwards with a pitched roof
   design. Again, timber elevations are proposed for the new building works;
   

   e) Demoli­tion of some build­ing com­pon­ents and walls to the north and east of

   the site;
   

   f) Reuse and renov­a­tion of former cart shed in the north east part of the site to

   house the staff facilities, and bicycle and general storage;
   

   g) Form­a­tion of park­ing areas includ­ing bus spaces and dis­abled spaces to the

   north of the site with some disabled parking provision at the southern end of
   the site beside the former farmhouse.
   

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 6 26/02/2021

1. Plans of the pro­pos­als are attached at Appendix 1.

2. Pro­posed fin­ishes of build­ing works are nat­ur­al slate roofs, cast alu­mini­um rain water goods, wooden fen­es­tra­tion, and re-use of exist­ing nat­ur­al stone for exist­ing and pro­posed works. It is pro­posed to use the exist­ing vehicu­lar access from the A9 trunk road- this access point will be upgraded with vis­ib­il­ity splays provided and junc­tion upgrades. Pedestrian/​cycle access will be provided through the Bal­avil Estate from Lyn­chat under the A9.

3. Foul drain­age will be dis­posed of by means of private sewage treat­ment plant whilst sur­face water drain­age will be dealt with by a sys­tem of road­side swales and atten­u­ation. Con­nec­tion to a private water sup­ply is proposed.

4. As noted earli­er the Raits Burn lies to the west of the site and the site lies with­in an area des­ig­nated as a flood risk area on SEPA’s maps. A Flood Risk Assess­ment includ­ing topo­graph­ic­al sur­vey was sub­mit­ted with the ori­gin­al applic­a­tions. The sur­vey exten­ded bey­ond the site upstream and down­stream of the site and a hydraul­ic mod­el pro­duced. This work high­lighted that the cul­vert under the A9 down­stream of the site was a major con­stric­tion to flow and that com­pens­at­ory flood stor­age, ini­tially pro­posed by lower­ing the west­ern banks of the burn with­in the site could help address this exist­ing issue. This was updated fol­low­ing ongo­ing con­sulta­tion with rel­ev­ant con­sul­tees and a revised Flood Risk Assess­ment Addendum provided which sought to demon­strate that there would be no increased risk of flood­ing at or around the site with exist­ing inform­al bank­ing along­side the Raits Burn to be retained with no changes to ground levels.

5. The major­ity of exist­ing trees in and around the site will be retained with Tree Pro­tec­tion Plan provided and Arbor­i­cul­tur­al Impact Assessment/​Method State­ment. A land­scape scheme has also been provided.

6. Oth­er key doc­u­ments sub­mit­ted in sup­port of the ori­gin­al applic­a­tion and car­ried for­ward for the renew­als are:

   a) Retail State­ment: out­lining how the pro­pos­als impact upon and

   complement existing facilities in Newtonmore and Kingusssie. This concludes
   that the development represents significant inward economic investment
   (£5,000,000 of initial investment) creating up to 15 new jobs, and providing a
   high quality tourist destination and quality visitor facility as part of a planned
   or impromptu stop along the A9. It also concludes that the proposals will
   provide a complimentary retail facility to existing provision in the area with no
   sequentially preferable sites available within any town centre that could
   accommodate the proposed development.
   

   b) Trans­port State­ment which includes inform­a­tion on how the site will be

   accessed by pedestrians and cyclists via an existing track from Lynchat through
   the Balavil estate to the site. This plan is included in Appendix 1.
   

   c) Pol­lu­tion Con­trol Meas­ures State­ment doc­u­ment set­ting out how the

   environmental interests in the area, including the Raits Burn as part of the
   

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 6 26/02/2021

d)  **A Phase I Investigation eport and Design Statement** were also
    provided together with a summary of the feedback from visitors to an open
    day held at Balavil Estate in September 2016 to explain the proposals to the
    public. This statement lists verbatim comments from visitors to the open day
    which are largely supportive of the proposals.

Request for exten­sion to expiry date

1. The agent has provided the fol­low­ing jus­ti­fic­a­tion for the sub­mis­sion of these applic­a­tions and the require­ment for a longer expiry date until imple­ment­a­tion of such permissions:

2. “At the time of sub­mit­ting the applic­a­tion to renew the per­mis­sion at the Mains of Bal­avil, the Estate reques­ted a longer con­sent peri­od and asked for an expiry date to be set at 7 years from the date of approv­al. This request is based on the Estate’s under­stand­ing of the timetable for the dualling of the A9 fol­low­ing dis­cus­sions with Gal­braith, Brod­ies and Trans­port Scot­land. The primary aim is to avoid hav­ing to renew the per­mis­sion again pri­or to start­ing the devel­op­ment. The estate, want to ensure they have suf­fi­cient flex­ib­il­ity in the renewed per­mis­sion, and its expiry date, to allow the con­struc­tion of the A9 to pro­ceed as far as pos­sible, if not com­pleted, pri­or to the Estate start­ing their works on site.

3. As the Estate cur­rently under­stand the A9 pro­gramme, an inquiry would take place in 2021 with a decision later in the year or early 2022 and the over­all con­struc­tion peri­od is likely to be at least 3 years (say 2022- 2025), but this remains indic­at­ive. There­fore work at the Mains of Bal­avil might not be able to start until 2026 at the earli­est, hence the request for a longer con­sent period/​expiry date.”

His­tory

1. There have been vari­ous plan­ning applic­a­tions and lis­ted build­ing applic­a­tions in the wider Bal­avil Estate, includ­ing works to exist­ing dwell­ings, pri­or noti­fic­a­tions for track repair and works to Bal­avil House. An applic­a­tion for plan­ning per­mis­sion in prin­ciple for the relo­ca­tion of the farm to land adja­cent to Lyn­o­voan on the estate was approved by Scot­tish Min­is­ters in July 2019 (ref: NA-CNP-002). An applic­a­tion for the Mat­ters Spe­cified in Con­di­tion which fol­lows that applic­a­tion is cur­rently being con­sidered under applic­a­tion ref­er­ence: 2020/0077/MSC.

2. As pre­vi­ously high­lighted, applic­a­tions for plan­ning per­mis­sion (2016/0153/DET) and lis­ted build­ing con­sent (2016/0143/LBC) were sub­mit­ted in 2016 for the pro­pos­al, which is now the sub­ject of these two renew­al applic­a­tions of this report. Per­mis­sion was gran­ted for 2016/0153/DET and 2016/0143/LBC in Janu­ary 2018.

3. Since the sub­mis­sion of those ori­gin­al applic­a­tions, there have been the fol­low­ing per­mis­sions relat­ing to the same site:

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 6 26/02/2021

b) a) Plan­ning Applic­a­tion ref: 19/04994/FUL, determ­ined by The High­land Coun­cil for the ​“Erec­tion of Gar­age and Game Lar­der”, which gained approv­al on 30 Janu­ary 2020; Lis­ted Build­ing Con­sent ref: 19/04055/LBC, determ­ined by The High­land Coun­cil for the ​“Erec­tion of agri­cul­tur­al build­ing with­in the walls of an exist­ing stead­ing”, which gained con­sent on 11 Novem­ber 2019; Lis­ted Build­ing Con­sent ref: 19/03983/LBC, determ­ined by The High­land Coun­cil for the ​“Sta­bil­isa­tion, repair, part-recon­struc­tion and rein­state­ment of open­ings to stead­ing build­ing”, which gained con­sent on 24 Decem­ber 2019. c)

1. It is under­stood that the devel­op­ment gran­ted under (a) and (b) is cur­rently under con­struc­tion and is sited in the pos­i­tion of the pro­posed café build­ing which forms part of this renew­al applic­a­tion devel­op­ment. The Estate has con­firmed that the Game Lar­der is to be tem­por­ar­ily sited in that pos­i­tion on the site and will be removed in time fol­low­ing the imple­ment­a­tion of the renew­al devel­op­ment, if sub­sequently permitted.

DEVEL­OP­MENT PLAN CONTEXT

Policies

Nation­al Policy	Scot­tish Plan­ning Policy 2014
Stra­tegic Policy	Cairngorms Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan 2017 — 2022
Loc­al Plan Policy	Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan (2015)
	Those policies rel­ev­ant to the assess­ment of this applic­a­tion are
	marked with a cross
POLICY I	NEW HOUS­ING DEVELOPMENT
POLICY 2	SUP­PORT­ING ECO­NOM­IC GROWTH
POLICY 3	SUS­TAIN­ABLE DESIGN
POLICY 4	NAT­UR­AL HERITAGE
POLICY 5	LAND­SCAPE
POLICY 6	THE SIT­ING AND DESIGN OF DIGITAL
	COM­MU­NIC­A­TIONS EQUIPMENT
POLICY 7	RENEW­ABLE ENERGY
POLICY 8	SPORT AND RECREATION
POLICY 9	CUL­TUR­AL HERITAGE
POLICY 10	RESOURCES
POLICY 11	DEVELOPER CON­TRI­BU­TIONS

1. All new devel­op­ment pro­pos­als require to be assessed in rela­tion to policies con­tained in the adop­ted Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan. The full word­ing of policies can be found at:

http://cairngorms.co.uk/uploads/documents/Park%20Authority/Planning/LDPI5.pdf

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 6 26/02/2021

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
Policy 2	Sup­port­ing Eco­nom­ic Growth Non-Stat­utory Guidance
Policy 3	Sus­tain­able Design Non-Stat­utory Guidance
Policy 4	Nat­ur­al Her­it­age Sup­ple­ment­ary Guidance
Policy 5	Land­scape Non-Stat­utory Guidance
Policy 7	Renew­able Energy Sup­ple­ment­ary Guidance
Policy 8	Sport and Recre­ation Non-Stat­utory Guidance
Policy 9	Cul­tur­al Her­it­age Non-Stat­utory Guidance
Policy 10	Resources Non-Stat­utory Guidance
Policy 11	Developer Con­tri­bu­tions Sup­ple­ment­ary Guidance

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2020

1. The emer­ging Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan (“Pro­posed Plan”) which will cov­er the peri­od of 2020 – 2025 is cur­rently being pro­gressed. The pro­posed plan has now under­gone exam­in­a­tion by the Scot­tish Min­is­ters and is due to gain con­sent to adopt with­in earli­er part of this year. As the Pro­posed Plan exam­in­a­tion has con­cluded and it has been sub­mit­ted to gain con­sent to adopt, its con­tents are there­fore a mater­i­al consideration.

Emer­ging Loc­al Plan Policy	Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan (2020)
	Those policies rel­ev­ant to the assess­ment of this applic­a­tion are
	marked with a cross
POLICY I	NEW HOUS­ING DEVELOPMENT
POLICY 2	SUP­PORT­ING ECO­NOM­IC GROWTH
POLICY 3	DESIGN AND PLACEMAKING
POLICY 4	NAT­UR­AL HERITAGE
POLICY 5	LAND­SCAPE
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
POLICY 11	DEVELOPER CON­TRI­BU­TIONS

Hab­it­ats Reg­u­la­tions Appraisal

1. A Hab­it­ats Reg­u­la­tions Apprais­al [HRA] has been under­taken by the CNPA in con­sulta­tion with NatureScot. The pro­pos­al lies imme­di­ately adja­cent to the Raitts Burn, which forms part of the River Spey SAC. There is poten­tial that dur­ing the clear­ance of the site, con­struc­tion of car park­ing and renov­a­tion of build­ings, that

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 6 26/02/2021

pol­lu­tion and silta­tion of the Raitts Burn could occur should mater­i­al from the site run- off into the burn. The HRA states that the mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures pro­posed as part of the applic­a­tion were adequate to ensure no neg­at­ive effect on qual­i­fy­ing fea­tures of the River Spey SAC, River Spey Insh Marshes SPA/SAC apart from on which was dis­turb­ance to otter. The fol­low­ing mit­ig­a­tion meas­ure is required to be included in any Otter Spe­cies Pro­tec­tion Plan:

a) ​‘To avoid any dis­turb­ance and there­fore reduc­tion in feed­ing capa­city, or

accidental harm to otter from construction traffic, works will be limited to
daylight hours and will not start until one hour after sunrise and cease one
hour before sunset'.

1. The HRA con­cludes that sub­ject to the mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures iden­ti­fied above being applied to any con­sent, the pro­pos­al will not adversely affect the integ­rity of any of the stated sites. A full copy of the adop­ted HRA is attached at Appendix 2.

CON­SULTA­TIONS

Sum­mary of the main issues raised by con­sul­tees for 2020/0236/DET

1. Trans­port Scot­land ori­gin­ally had a hold­ing objec­tion due to the require­ment for fur­ther inform­a­tion. Fol­low­ing this, Trans­port Scot­land con­firmed that they do not object to the applic­a­tion sub­ject to the inclu­sion of two plan­ning con­di­tions relat­ing to the pri­or agree­ment of how the site access will tie-in to the A9 Dualling Scheme and the pri­or agree­ment of a revised lay­out plan to show the devel­op­ment lay­out and the areas with­in the site to be retained free of devel­op­ment as neces­sary for the deliv­ery of the A9 Dualling Scheme. Trans­port Scot­land ref­er­ence two A9 dualling plans with­in their pro­posed con­di­tions, cop­ies of which have been provided.

2. Scot­tish Envir­on­ment Pro­tec­tion Agency [SEPA] states that on the under­stand­ing the pro­pos­al is identic­al to the ori­gin­al approv­al, the Agency require the attach­ment of con­di­tions to any sub­sequent decision; includ­ing: the sub­mis­sion of a topo­graph­ic­al sur­vey, con­firm­a­tion of no changes to ground levels iden­ti­fied with­in that sur­vey, and that no alter­a­tions are made to the exist­ing inform­al flood embank­ments. These are required to ensure that the exist­ing capa­city of the func­tion­al flood plain is main­tained and that the flood régime in the vicin­ity is not affected. They also request that a con­di­tion is attached to remove per­mit­ted devel­op­ment rights for the site to ensure that any works such as changes to land levels or con­struc­tion of struc­tures usu­ally per­mit­ted through the legis­la­tion, do not lead to an increased flood risk to oth­ers. The Agency also ref­er­ence their ori­gin­al response with regards to high­light­ing the exist­ing level of flood risk to this site.

3. NatureScot under­stand that the Hab­it­ats Reg­u­la­tions Apprais­al for the pre­vi­ous plan­ning applic­a­tion for this pro­pos­al (2016/0153/DET) is being car­ried over for this renewed applic­a­tion, as there are no changes to the pro­pos­al. NatureScot agree with the con­clu­sion of the HRA that any likely sig­ni­fic­ant effect to the otter des­ig­nated fea­ture of the River Spey SAC, as res­ult of dis­turb­ance to Raitts Burn dur­ing the con­struc­tion works, will be pre­ven­ted by fol­low­ing the pro­posed mit­ig­a­tion. This includes:

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 6 26/02/2021

a) Lim­it­ing con­struc­tion works to day­light hours, between one hour after sunrise

and one hour before sunset;

b) Retain­ing ripari­an wood­land and veget­a­tion along Raitts Burn; c) Adher­ing to the Spe­cies Pro­tec­tion Plan for Otter.

1. The SPP for otter provided with the pre­vi­ous applic­a­tion will need to be updated in light of the renewed otter sur­vey and the pro­pos­al should only be under­taken in accord­ance with the SPP if approved. The Team agree with the mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures pro­posed as part of the renewed otter sur­vey, includ­ing to retain tree num­ber 0287 and to dir­ect all light­ing away from the burn. They agree with the con­clu­sion of no likely sig­ni­fic­ant effect to any of the oth­er des­ig­nated fea­tures of the River Spey SAC or the nearby Insh Marshes SAC and PA as a res­ult of the proposal.

2. The High­land Coun­cil Trans­port Plan­ning Team con­firms that as the pro­pos­al seeks to renew the earli­er con­sen­ted applic­a­tion under ref. 2016/0153/DET, the Team has pre­vi­ously provided detailed com­ment on the earli­er applic­a­tion and has no fur­ther com­ment on the cur­rent proposal.

3. With­in the Team’s com­ments on the ori­gin­al applic­a­tion, the Team con­firmed that they did not object to the applic­a­tion provid­ing con­di­tions were attached to cov­er park­ing lay­out, and ser­vice deliv­ery togeth­er with con­di­tions to ensure that the ped­es­tri­an and cyc­list route would be fit for purpose.

4. The High­land Coun­cil Con­tam­in­ated Land Officer notes that the site has a pre­vi­ous agri­cul­tur­al use and there­fore recom­mends that a con­tam­in­a­tion assess­ment is con­di­tioned to be sup­plied fol­low­ing the grant of any per­mis­sion. The Officer also reques­ted the applicant’s sub­mit their ques­tion­naire. Fol­low­ing the sub­mis­sion of this, the Officer con­firms that there is no fur­ther com­ment from the Con­tam­in­ated Land Ser­vice and that a con­tam­in­a­tion assess­ment is no longer required.

5. The High­land Coun­cil Envir­on­ment­al Health Officer iden­ti­fies that the main con­cerns for their Ser­vice are noise/​odour from the kit­chen extract sys­tem which could have impacts on any neigh­bour­ing res­id­en­tial prop­erty and there­fore requests a con­di­tion is attached for the agree­ment of the odour mit­ig­a­tion sys­tem and to set a noise lim­it relat­ing to the extrac­tion sys­tem. In addi­tion they require details to be sub­mit­ted by way of con­di­tion, to ensure that the water private water sup­ply is whole­some and has suf­fi­cient capa­city to meet the needs of the development.

6. The High­land Coun­cil Flood Risk Man­age­ment Officer requests that the same con­di­tions to that of 2016/0153/DET are car­ried for­ward and attached to any sub­sequent decision notice for this renew­al. These con­di­tions are as follows:

   a) The sub­mis­sion and agree­ment of a detailed flood mod­el to determ­ine flood

   routing and water depths in the event of overtopping or breach of the
   informal embankments;
   

   b) In agree­ment with SEPA, a con­di­tion is also required to ensure that there is

   no ground raising within site, including the informal embankments;
   

   c) A six metre buf­fer between the water­course and any new development;

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 6 26/02/2021

d) The sub­mis­sion and approv­al of a final drain­age detailed design, which should

include provision for limiting discharge for all storm events up to and including
the I in 200 plus climate change storm.

1. The High­land Coun­cil Access Officer does not have any record of any claimed pub­lic rights of way.

2. The High­land Coun­cil Forestry Officer con­firms that they have no fur­ther com­ments to those giv­en in response to the con­sulta­tion on applic­a­tion 2016/0153/DET and recom­mends that any tree related con­di­tions (8 and 9) are car­ried for­ward for this renewal.

3. CNPA Eco­logy Officer has the fol­low­ing com­ments on the updated inform­a­tion provided with this application:

   a) Updated bat sur­vey and spe­cies pro­tec­tion plan: The Officer welcomes

   the report and notes that there is evidence of bats using the site for breeding
   and non-breeding roosts. It is also considered possible that the building
   complex could support hibernating bats. The Officer confirms that as long as
   the works are undertaken in accordance with the SPP and the stated
   compensation is provided, the proposal should allow the species to be
   maintained at the site and therefore at a favourable conservation status. The
   Officer notes that the SPP details mitigation measures to avoid carrying out
   works at particular times in order to avoid periods when bats will be present
   which is particularly important with respect to the maternity roost and any
   potential hibernation roost. Regarding compensation, guidance is that
   maternity and hibernation roosts should be retained wherever possible or
   replaced like-for-like to maintain the local population. A planning condition is
   required to ensure works are undertaken in accordance with the SPP and for
   an external lighting plan for the site.
   

   b) Updated eco­logy report: The Officer notes that the only oth­er protected

   species of concern