Item6AAInshTrack20210064DET

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 6 14/05/2021

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHORITY

DEVEL­OP­MENT PRO­POSED: Form­a­tion of track at Land 810M SW Of The School­house, Insh, Kingussie

REF­ER­ENCE: 2021/0064/DET

APPLIC­ANT: Mr Peter Moore

DATE CALLED-IN: I March 2021

RECOM­MEND­A­TION: Approve sub­ject to conditions

CASE OFFICER: Ed Swales Mon­it­or­ing and Enforce­ment Officer

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ba CNPA Plan­ning Committee

Applic­a­tion Site

0 25 50 Meters Bal­avil 226 …………. 100 N Insh Marshes Nation­al Nature Reserve 02 0 234 Soilléri Insh Crown copy­right and data­base rights 2021. Ord­nance Sur­vey Licence num­ber 100040965 Drain CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 6 14/05/2021 Track

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 6 14/05/2021

SITE DESCRIP­TION, PRO­POS­AL AND HISTORY

Site Descrip­tion

1. Insh Marshes cov­ers 10 square kilo­metres of flood­plain between Kin­craig and Kin­gussie. The track is accessed by an exist­ing vehicle track from the west end of the vil­lage of Insh and is with­in land the south west of the marshes that is farmed.

2. The site has a num­ber of des­ig­na­tions, and is with­in the Insh Marshes Nation­al Nature Reserve (NNR), is a Spe­cial Area of Con­ser­va­tion (SAC), a Site of Spe­cial Sci­entif­ic Interest (SSSI), a Ram­sar Site and also lies with­in the River Spey Spe­cial Pro­tec­tion Area (SPA).

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=QPIG9HSI0CH0 0

Title	Draw­ing Num­ber	Date on Plan*	Date Received
Spe­cific­a­tions — Track Cre­ation Rationale			01/03/21
Loc­a­tion Plan — Loc­a­tion Plan	18/02/21		01/03/21
Site Plan — Site Plan	18/02/21		01/03/21
Spe­cific­a­tions — Track Specification			01/03/21
Spe­cific­a­tions — Con­struc­tion Meth­od Statement			22/04/21

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

1. The pro­pos­al is to upgrade a 470m sec­tion of exist­ing grassed track to a con­struc­ted vehicle track. The ground will be scraped out, mat­ting put down and hard-core stone mater­i­al placed on top. The mater­i­al to be used will be obtained from loc­al quar­ries and brought onto the site using exist­ing vehicle access. A Con­struc­tion Meth­od State­ment has been sub­mit­ted which has con­firmed how the upgrad­ing works will be undertaken.

His­tory

1. There is no related plan­ning his­tory for this application.

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 6 14/05/2021

Hab­it­ats Reg­u­la­tions Apprais­al (HRA)

1. A Hab­it­ats Reg­u­la­tions Apprais­al has been under­taken to con­sider the effects of the pro­pos­al upon the con­ser­va­tion object­ives of the Natura Sites as lis­ted with­in the doc­u­ment — attached at Appendix 2.

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
POLICY 3	DESIGN AND PLACEMAKING
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	OEN SPACE, SPORT AND RECREATION
POLICY 9	CUL­TUR­AL HERITAGE
POLICY 10	RESOURCES	X
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:

https://​cairngorms​.co​.uk/​w​p​-​c​o​n​t​e​n​t​/​u​p​l​o​a​d​s​/​2​0​2​0​/​1​1​/​C​N​P​A​-​L​D​P​-​2​0​2​0-as- Modified-for-web.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
Policy 3	Sus­tain­able Design Non-Stat­utory Guid­ance (2015)
Policy 4	Nat­ur­al Her­it­age Sup­ple­ment­ary Guidance	X
Policy 5	Land­scape Non-Stat­utory Guidance	X
Policy 7	Renew­able Energy Sup­ple­ment­ary Guidance
Policy 8	Open Space, Sport and Recre­ation Non-Stat­utory Guidance
Policy 9	Cul­tur­al Her­it­age Non-Stat­utory Guidance

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 6 14/05/2021

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

CON­SULTA­TIONS A sum­mary of the main issues raised by consultees

1. Nature Scot gave advice the RSPB pri­or to a plan­ning applic­a­tion being made, under­took a draft HRA and con­cluded that the pro­pos­als would not affect the integ­rity of the European des­ig­nated sites.

2. CNPA Eco­logy Advisor sup­ports the con­struc­tion of the track on the basis that there is a pre-con­struc­tion sur­vey con­firm­ing no otter holts are in the vicin­ity of the track. A con­tract­or with exper­i­ence of con­struc­tion of tracks with­in a flood­plain should be employed to under­take the work.

3. They are sat­is­fied with the sub­mis­sion of the updated Con­struc­tion Meth­od Statement.

4. CNPA Land­scape Officer states the flat and level topo­graphy of the site and sur­round­ing land­scape already has a num­ber of tracks for land man­age­ment pur­poses. This addi­tion will not change the char­ac­ter of the area and there will be no sig­ni­fic­ant visu­al effects.

5. CNPA Access Officer states that a con­tract­or with the rel­ev­ant expert­ise should be employed. They are con­cerned that the plans show no drain­age ditch­ing, that Geogrid could be used where the form­a­tion lay­er may require it. Also that the track should be elev­ated above exist­ing sur­face levels in places.

6. Kin­craig Com­munity Coun­cil offer no com­ment on the application.

REP­RES­ENT­A­TIONS

1. There have been no rep­res­ent­a­tions sub­mit­ted for this application.

APPRAIS­AL

1. The main plan­ning con­sid­er­a­tions are con­sidered to be the prin­ciple of devel­op­ment, the impact upon land­scape and the envir­on­ment­al impacts.

Prin­ciple of Development

1. The pro­posed track is to provide improved access to Insh Fen which is used for sea­son­al graz­ing by the ten­ant farm­er. Whilst not dir­ectly related to the man­age­ment of the Nature Reserve, it will be reg­u­larly used by RSPB staff and con­tract­ors for check­ing live­stock, hab­it­at man­age­ment and mon­it­or­ing and sur­vey work. The track will there­fore provide improved access and allow bet­ter man­age­ment of the reserve. As such it is con­sidered that the pro­posed upgrad­ing works to the track will bring bene­fit and help reduce detrimental

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18. CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 6 14/05/2021 impacts to this import­ant wet­land and as such com­plies with Policy 10: Resources of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Devel­op­ment Plan 2021.

The prin­ciple of the pro­posed upgrad­ing works is con­sidered to be accept­able sub­ject to com­pli­ance with oth­er rel­ev­ant loc­al plan policies with­in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021.

Land­scap­ing and Envir­on­ment­al issues

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. The track will be con­struc­ted from stone from loc­al quar­ries and will be low lying. It is con­sidered that it will have min­im­al land­scape impact and con­tex­tu­ally, in addi­tion to exist­ing tracks in the area, will also not cause a sig­ni­fic­ant cumu­lat­ive impact.

2. 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. The applic­ant has included mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures in their Con­struc­tion Meth­od State­ment (received 27^th April 2021) to address the likely sig­ni­fic­ant effects on otter and bird qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies. These include tim­ing of works out­with the bird breed­ing sea­son, no works between one hour before sun­set and one hour after sun­rise, and no work­ing dur­ing wet weath­er to reduce the risk of sed­i­ment run-off reach­ing the oxbow lake.

3. Sub­ject to a suit­ably worded con­di­tion to ensure the prop­er con­struc­tion of the track, the pro­posed devel­op­ment is con­sidered to com­ply with Policy 4: Nat­ur­al Her­it­age and Policy 5: Land­scape of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment 2021.

CON­CLU­SION

1. The impact of the upgraded track will be not be sig­ni­fic­ant and it will provide improved access to the bene­fit of the wider wet­land site. Sub­ject to a con­di­tion requir­ing the meth­ods and mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures set out in the Con­struc­tion Meth­od State­ment are strictly fol­lowed, the pro­posed devel­op­ment is con­sidered to com­ply with the policies con­tained with­in the adop­ted Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan and approv­al is there­fore recommended.

RECOM­MEND­A­TION

That Mem­bers of the Com­mit­tee sup­port a recom­mend­a­tion to approve the Form­a­tion of track at Land 810M SW Of The School­house, Insh, Kin­gussie, sub­ject to the fol­low­ing conditions:

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 6 14/05/2021 Those con­di­tions lis­ted below in bold text are sus­pens­ive con­di­tions, which require to be dis­charged pri­or to imple­ment­a­tion of the development.

Con­di­tions

1. No devel­op­ment shall com­mence until a pre-con­struc­tion check for otter holts has been under­taken to con­firm that no otter holts are present or would be dis­turbed, and the res­ults sub­mit­ted to and con­firmed in writ­ing by the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity act­ing as plan­ning authority;

Reas­on: To ensure there are no risks to otter due to the con­struc­tion of the track in accord­ance with Policy 4: Nat­ur­al Her­it­age of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021.

1. The devel­op­ment shall be car­ried out in strict accord­ance with the approved Con­struc­tion Meth­od State­ment in its entirety.

Reas­on: To ensure there are no adverse impacts to the Nation­al Nature Reserve in accord­ance with Policy 4: Nat­ur­al Her­it­age and Policy 5: Land­scape of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021.

Inform­at­ives

1. The devel­op­ment hereby approved must com­mence with­in 3 years of the date of this decision notice. If devel­op­ment has not com­menced with­in this peri­od then this plan­ning per­mis­sion will lapse.
2. The per­son under­tak­ing the devel­op­ment is required to give the Plan­ning Author­ity pri­or writ­ten noti­fic­a­tion of the date on which it is inten­ded to com­mence the devel­op­ment. Attached to this decision notice is a Notice of Ini­ti­ation of Devel­op­ment for com­ple­tion and sub­mis­sion. Sub­mis­sion of this inform­a­tion assists the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Mon­it­or­ing and Enforce­ment Officer in mon­it­or­ing act­ive work with­in the area to ensure com­pli­ance with the approved details and to identi­fy and cor­rect any poten­tial prob­lems, as they arise, rather than later when it may be more dif­fi­cult and more costly to rec­ti­fy. Fail­ure to give notice would con­sti­tute a breach of plan­ning con­trol which may res­ult in enforce­ment action being taken.
3. Fol­low­ing com­ple­tion of the devel­op­ment, a noti­fic­a­tion of the com­ple­tion shall, as soon as prac­tic­able, be giv­en to the Plan­ning Author­ity. Attached to this decision notice is a Notice of Com­ple­tion of Devel­op­ment for com­ple­tion and sub­mis­sion. Sub­mis­sion of this form will assist the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Mon­it­or­ing and Enforce­ment Officer in mak­ing a final inspec­tion and check­ing com­pli­ance with the approved draw­ings and con­di­tions. If the devel­op­ment hereby approved is to be car­ried out in phases, then a notice of com­ple­tion should be sub­mit­ted at the com­ple­tion of each phase.

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 6 14/05/2021 The map on the first page of this report has been pro­duced to aid in the stat­utory pro­cess of deal­ing with plan­ning applic­a­tions. The map is to help identi­fy the site and its sur­round­ings and to aid Plan­ning Officers, Com­mit­tee Mem­bers and the Pub­lic in the determ­in­a­tion of the pro­pos­al. Maps shown in the Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Report can only be used for the pur­poses of the Plan­ning Com­mit­tee. Any oth­er use risks infringing Crown Copy­right and may lead to pro­sec­u­tion or civil pro­ceed­ings. Maps pro­duced with­in this Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Report can only be repro­duced with the express per­mis­sion of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity and oth­er Copy­right hold­ers. This per­mis­sion must be gran­ted in advance.

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