Item6Appendix1NaturalHeritageNonStatGuidance

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Agenda Item 6 Appendix | 24/04/2020

AGENDA ITEM 6

APPENDIX I

DRAFT NAT­UR­AL HER­IT­AGE NON-STAT­UTORY GUIDANCE

---

PLAN­NING Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2020 Non-stat­utory guid­ance: Policy 4 – Nat­ur­al Heritage

---

Con­tents How to use this guidance…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..1 Intro­duc­tion and context………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….1 Mit­ig­a­tion hierarchy………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….4 Pro­cess for con­sid­er­ing nat­ur­al her­it­age interests…………………………………………………………………………..4 Provid­ing suf­fi­cient information………………………………………………………………………………………………………..6 Need for eco­lo­gic­al surveys………………………………………………………………………………………………………………6 Use­ful sources of advice and information………………………………………………………………………………………….7

Red squir­rel in a Cale­do­ni­an pine tree, Aber­nethy forest

Lochan, marsh and pine forest hab­it­ats, Invereshie

Dark green fritil­lary but­ter­fly in grass­land, near Boat of Garten

---

How to use this guid­ance This non-stat­utory guid­ance sup­ports the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2020 and applies to all plan­ning applic­a­tions with­in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park. The Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan is avail­able via https://​cairngorms​.co​.uk/​p​l​a​n​ning- devel­op­ment/­loc­al-devel­op­ment-plan- 2020/ and should be read along­side this guidance.

This guid­ance should be used dur­ing the pre­par­a­tion and assess­ment of plan­ning applic­a­tions, to identi­fy meas­ures to safe­guard and/​or enhance nat­ur­al her­it­age interests.

Intro­duc­tion and con­text Policy 4 of the Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan¹ provides the frame­work for how con­sid­er­a­tion and safe­guard­ing of nat­ur­al her­it­age interests should be incor­por­ated into devel­op­ment pro­pos­als. A range of

Note, policy word­ing may change fol­low­ing the exam­in­a­tion of the Pro­posed Plan.

nat­ur­al her­it­age interests are iden­ti­fied, which includes hab­it­ats as well as wildlife.

The policy applies to all devel­op­ments, not just those in eco­lo­gic­ally sens­it­ive loc­a­tions. This is because the effects of devel­op­ment on nat­ur­al her­it­age interests can extend out­with a devel­op­ment site (for example by increas­ing the num­ber of people using a wood­land for recre­ation, caus­ing dis­turb­ance to ground nest­ing birds), and because many spe­cies are mobile and move through the land­scape (for example some amphi­bi­ans may hibern­ate in one loc­a­tion, but spend the rest of the year feed­ing and breed­ing in anoth­er, so a pro­posed devel­op­ment site could cre­ate a bar­ri­er between the two areas).

All plan­ning applic­a­tions should be pre­pared and assessed against the poten­tial effects that the pro­posed devel­op­ment may have on the nat­ur­al her­it­age interests of the Park as iden­ti­fied in Policy 4. The fol­low­ing sec­tions of this guid­ance provide advice on what needs to be con­sidered and provides links to oth­er sources of rel­ev­ant information.

Policy 4 – Nat­ur­al Her­it­age 4.1 Inter­na­tion­al des­ig­na­tions Devel­op­ment likely to have a sig­ni­fic­ant effect on a Natura 2000 or Ram­sar site must demon­strate no adverse effect on the integ­rity of the site. Where this is not pos­sible, devel­op­ment will be con­sidered favour­ably only where:

a) there are no altern­at­ive solu­tions; and

b) there are imper­at­ive reas­ons of over­rid­ing pub­lic interest includ­ing those of a social or eco­nom­ic nature.

Where the site has been des­ig­nated for a European pri­or­ity hab­it­at or spe­cies, devel­op­ment will only be per­mit­ted where the reas­ons for over­rid­ing pub­lic interest relate to human health, pub­lic safety, bene­fit con­sequences of primary import­ance for the envir­on­ment or oth­er reas­ons sub­ject to the opin­ion of the European Com­mis­sion (via Scot­tish Ministers).

---

4.2 Nation­al des­ig­na­tions Devel­op­ment that would adversely affect the Cairngorms Nation­al Park, a Site of Spe­cial Sci­entif­ic Interest, Nation­al Nature Reserve or Nation­al Scen­ic Area will only be per­mit­ted where:

a) it will not adversely affect the integ­rity of the area or the qual­it­ies for which it has been des­ig­nated; or

b) any such adverse effects are clearly out­weighed by social, eco­nom­ic or envir­on­ment­al bene­fits of nation­al import­ance, and com­pensated by the pro­vi­sion of fea­tures of equal or great­er import­ance than those that are adversely affected.

4.3 Wood­lands Wood­land remov­al for devel­op­ment will only be per­mit­ted where remov­al of the wood­land would achieve clearly defined addi­tion­al pub­lic bene­fits. Com­pens­a­tion will be expec­ted which is at least equal to the qual­ity and quant­ity of what is lost.

Only in excep­tion­al cir­cum­stances will lack of com­pens­a­tion be acceptable.

There will be a strong pre­sump­tion against remov­al of Ancient Wood­land Invent­ory (AWI) sites, which are con­sidered an irre­place­able resource. Only in excep­tion­al cir­cum­stances will loss of AWI be permitted:

a) where the developer can clearly demon­strate that the need and jus­ti­fic­a­tion for the devel­op­ment out­weighs the loc­al, nation­al, or inter­na­tion­al con­tri­bu­tion of the wood­land; or

b) where it can be clearly demon­strated that the AWI site has low eco­lo­gic­al value.

Where AWI remov­al is deemed accept­able, com­pens­a­tion for such loss will be man­dat­ory. 4.4 Pro­tec­ted spe­cies Devel­op­ment that would have a sig­ni­fic­ant adverse effect on any European Pro­tec­ted Spe­cies will not be per­mit­ted unless:

a) the developer can demon­strate that there are pub­lic health, pub­lic safety or oth­er imper­at­ive reas­ons of over­rid­ing pub­lic interest, includ­ing those of a social or eco­nom­ic nature and bene­fi­cial con­sequences of primary import­ance for the envir­on­ment; and

b) there is no sat­is­fact­ory altern­at­ive solu­tion; and

c) the devel­op­ment will not be det­ri­ment­al to the main­ten­ance of the pop­u­la­tion of the spe­cies con­cerned at a favour­able con­ser­va­tion status in their nat­ur­al range.

Devel­op­ment that would have a sig­ni­fic­ant adverse effect on spe­cies pro­tec­ted under Sched­ule 5 (anim­als) or 8 (plants) of the Wild­life & Coun­tryside Act 1981, as amended, will not be per­mit­ted unless:

a) under­tak­ing the devel­op­ment will give rise to, or con­trib­ute towards the achieve­ment of, a sig­ni­fic­ant social, eco­nom­ic or envir­on­ment­al bene­fit; and

b) there is no oth­er sat­is­fact­ory solu­tion; and

---

c) the devel­op­ment will not be det­ri­ment­al to the spe­cies con­cerned at a favour­able con­ser­va­tion status in their nat­ur­al range.

Devel­op­ment that would have a sig­ni­fic­ant adverse effect on badgers or their setts will not be per­mit­ted unless the devel­op­ment fully com­plies with the require­ments of the Pro­tec­tion of Badgers Act 1992 (as amended).

4.5 Oth­er biod­iversity Devel­op­ment that would have a sig­ni­fic­ant adverse effect on spe­cies lis­ted in Annexes 11 or V of the EC Hab­it­ats Dir­ect­ive or Annex I of the EC Birds Dir­ect­ive will not be per­mit­ted unless:

a) there is no oth­er sat­is­fact­ory solu­tion; and

b) the devel­op­ment will not be det­ri­ment­al to the main­ten­ance of the spe­cies con­cerned at a favour­able con­ser­va­tion status in their nat­ur­al range.

Devel­op­ment that would have a sig­ni­fic­ant adverse effect on hab­it­ats or spe­cies iden­ti­fied in the Cairngorms Nature Action Plan, UK Biod­iversity Action Plan, Birds of Con­ser­va­tion Con­cerns (red and amber) or by Scot­tish Min­is­ters through the Scot­tish Biod­iversity List, includ­ing any cumu­lat­ive impact will only be per­mit­ted where:

a) the developer can demon­strate the that need and jus­ti­fic­a­tion for the devel­op­ment out­weighs the loc­al, nation­al or inter­na­tion­al con­tri­bu­tion of the area of hab­it­at or pop­u­la­tions of specie; and

b) sig­ni­fic­ant harm or dis­turb­ance to the eco­lo­gic­al func­tions, con­tinu­ity and integ­rity of the hab­it­ats or spe­cies pop­u­la­tions is avoided, or min­im­ized where harm is unavoid­able; and appro­pri­ate com­pens­at­ory and/​or man­age­ment meas­ures are provided; and new hab­it­ats of equal nature con­ser­va­tion value are cre­ated as appro­pri­ate to the site.

4.6 All devel­op­ment Where there is evid­ence to indic­ate that a pro­tec­ted or pri­or­ity hab­it­at or spe­cies may be present on, or adja­cent to, a site, or could be adversely affected by the devel­op­ment, the developer will be required to under­take a focused sur­vey of the area’s nat­ur­al envir­on­ment to assess the effect of the devel­op­ment on it and to sub­mit a species/​habitat pro­tec­tion plan where neces­sary to set out meas­ures to avoid, reduce or mit­ig­ate such effects.

---

Mit­ig­a­tion hier­archy The mit­ig­a­tion hier­archy (fig­ure 1) should be used from the out­set when con­sid­er­ing the poten­tial of a site for development.

Avoid Assess the site and design the lay­out to avoid sens­it­ive habitats/​species.

Min­im­ise For the remain­ing area, design the devel­op­ment to min­im­ise neg­at­ive effects on nat­ur­al her­it­age interests.

Mitigate/​compensate Where avoid­ing or min­im­ising effects is not pos­sible, off set neg­at­ive effects either through on site mit­ig­a­tion or as a last resort, off­s­ite compensation.

Fig­ure I — mit­ig­a­tion hierarchy

Poten­tial devel­op­ment sites should firstly be designed to avoid neg­at­ive effects on nat­ur­al her­it­age interests, and the ser­vices they provide (for example, fig­ure 2, marsh hab­it­ats and flood­plains that provide a home for wild­life as well as stor­ing flood water, cap­ture debris and slow flood water flow).

Fig­ure 2‑River Spey flood plain habitats

Avoid­ing the sens­it­ive hab­it­ats and those used by pro­tec­ted or pri­or­ity spe­cies should be the prin­cip­al aim when identi­fy­ing what pro­por­tion of a site is suit­able for development.

After this has been done, the second aim should be to min­im­ise remain­ing impacts. Where it is not pos­sible to avoid impacts, meas­ures to off­set neg­at­ive effects through mit­ig­a­tion (on site) or com­pens­a­tion (off site) should be identified.

Pro­cess for con­sid­er­ing nat­ur­al her­it­age interests The pro­cess shown in fig­ure 3 (over­leaf) should be used to inform site lay­out and design, as well as con­sid­er­a­tion of plan­ning applications.

Con­sid­er­ing nat­ur­al her­it­age interests at the earli­est stage should avoid plan­ning applic­a­tions being sub­mit­ted that do not meet the require­ments of Policy 4.

---

Will there be loss of or dam­age to nat­ur­al her­it­age interests iden­ti­fied in Policy 4 as a res­ult of development?

Yes Has loss/​damage been min­im­ised by care­ful lay­out and design?

No Remain­ing LDP policies apply.

No Amend the pro­posed devel­op­ment then reas­sess the new design.

Yes Can unavoid­able loss/​damage be mit­ig­ated on-site?

On-site mit­ig­a­tion fully pos­sible Mit­ig­a­tion pro­pos­als assessed and agreed with the plan­ning authority.

On-site mit­ig­a­tion par­tially pos­sible On-site mit­ig­a­tion and off- site com­pens­a­tion assessed and agreed with the plan­ning authority.

On-site mit­ig­a­tion not pos­sible Is com­pens­a­tion at an off- site loc­a­tion possible?

Suf­fi­cient com­pens­a­tion pos­sible Level of off-site com­pens­a­tion assessed by and agreed with the plan­ning authority.

Suf­fi­cient com­pens­a­tion not pos­sible The pro­pos­al is unlikely to be acceptable.

Yes Level of off-site com­pens­a­tion assessed and agreed with the plan­ning authority.

No The pro­pos­al is unlikely to be acceptable.

Fig­ure 3: pro­cess to be applied when con­sid­er­ing devel­op­ment pro­pos­als under Policy 4

---

Provid­ing suf­fi­cient inform­a­tion Sup­port­ing inform­a­tion should be provided with plan­ning applic­a­tions to demon­strate how devel­op­ment pro­pos­als have been designed to min­im­ise impacts on nat­ur­al her­it­age interests. The inform­a­tion should be suf­fi­cient to enable the plan­ning author­ity to assess applic­a­tions against the require­ments of Policy 4 (and, if neces­sary, carry out a Hab­it­ats Reg­u­la­tions Apprais­al² (HRA)). The level of inform­a­tion required will depend on the sig­ni­fic­ance of the poten­tial effects of pro­posed devel­op­ment on the nat­ur­al her­it­age interests iden­ti­fied in the policy.

A pre­cau­tion­ary approach to the assess­ment of impacts will be applied. Where con­tem­por­ary inform­a­tion is required but sur­veys have not been

² For more inform­a­tion about Hab­it­ats Reg­u­la­tions Apprais­al, see https://www.nature.scot/professional- advice/­plan­ning-and-devel­op­ment/en­vir­on­ment­al- assess­ment/h­ab­it­ats-reg­u­la­tions-apprais­al-hra

car­ried out, there are gaps in know­ledge or uncer­tainty about the effect­ive­ness of mit­ig­a­tion or com­pens­a­tion pro­posed to address impacts on nat­ur­al her­it­age interests, addi­tion­al inform­a­tion may be reques­ted. Where uncer­tainty remains, the pre­cau­tion­ary prin­ciple will be applied and plan­ning per­mis­sion is unlikely to be granted.

Need for eco­lo­gic­al sur­veys Because the Park is home to rare and/​or sens­it­ive spe­cies and hab­it­ats, sur­veys car­ried out by appro­pri­ately exper­i­enced (and licensed where required³) eco­lo­gic­al sur­vey­ors may be required to inform devel­op­ment pro­pos­als. It is strongly recom­men­ded that developers dis­cuss devel­op­ment pro­pos­als at the earli­est stage with the rel­ev­ant plan­ning authority,

³ Details on which spe­cies are leg­ally pro­tec­ted, actions that can be offenses and the spe­cies licens­ing pro­cess can be found on the Nature Scot (formerly Scot­tish Nat­ur­al Her­it­age) web­site via https://www.nature.scot/professional- advice/­plan­ning-and-devel­op­ment/ad­vice-plan­ners- and-developer­s/­plan­ning-and-devel­op­ment- protected-animals

so that the need or oth­er­wise for sur­veys can be estab­lished. Early dis­cus­sion should help identi­fy what sur­veys may be needed and their require­ments (such as tim­ing and dur­a­tion), so that delays later in the plan­ning pro­cess due to insuf­fi­cient inform­a­tion can be avoided.

Depend­ing on the nat­ur­al her­it­age interest(s) affected, sur­veys may need to be car­ried out over a num­ber of sea­sons due to mobile and/​or migrat­ory spe­cies (fig­ure 4) and/​or may need to be repeated over more than one year.

Fig­ure 4 mute swans and a whoop­er swan The type of sur­vey work required will depend on:

---

• the sens­it­iv­ity of the nat­ur­al her­it­age interests present with­in the pro­posed devel­op­ment site and sur­round­ing area; and

• the poten­tial effects of pro­posed devel­op­ment on them.

It is the respons­ib­il­ity of the applic­ant to ensure that eco­lo­gic­al interests are prop­erly con­sidered dur­ing the design stages, and that suit­able sur­veys are car­ried out where necessary.

The pur­pose of sur­veys should be to find out what hab­it­ats and spe­cies are present with­in a pro­posed devel­op­ment site and sur­round­ing area. Sur­vey res­ults should be used to inform site design and lay­out as well as mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures (fig­ure 5), so that impacts on nat­ur­al her­it­age interests are avoided or minimised.

For example (but not lim­ited to), by chan­ging the lay­out to avoid sens­it­ive hab­it­ats, redu­cing the num­ber of units to reduce off site effects, or off set­ting unavoid­able impacts by provid­ing sub­sti­tute new or improved hab­it­at else­where on site.

Fig­ure 5 — mit­ig­a­tion meas­ure to avoid adverse effects on bats, a leg­ally pro­tec­ted spe­cies Use­ful sources of advice and information

• Table 4 in the Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan (pages 86 and 87 https://​cairngorms​.co​.uk/wp- content/​uploads/​2019/​01/​190117PLDP2 020Web.pdf) high­lights some known sens­it­iv­it­ies for some European sites pro­tec­ted for nature con­ser­va­tion. While the Table refers to spe­cif­ic European sites, the issues and mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures iden­ti­fied in the Table are a use­ful guide for the same habitats/​species out­with those sites.

• Scotland’s Envir­on­ment web­site (https://www.environment.gov.scot/) provides a com­pil­a­tion of hab­it­ats and spe­cies data from vari­ous sources.

• The Nation­al Biod­iversity Net­work (NBN) Atlas Scot­land provides spe­cies records com­piled from pub­lic and bio­lo­gic­al record­ing centres, which can be accessed via https://​scot​land​.nbn​at​las​.org/. They can be used for a desk study of the pro­posed devel­op­ment site and sur­round­ing area that can be used to inform what eco­lo­gic­al sur­veys may be required.

How­ever, an absence of records in the Atlas does not neces­sar­ily mean that spe­cies are not present – it could just be that the spe­cies has not been sur­veyed for in a par­tic­u­lar area. Advice from a suit­ably exper­i­enced eco­lo­gist should also be sought about what spe­cies might be present in the hab­it­ats on and sur­round­ing the pro­posed devel­op­ment site.

---

• Applic­ants should refer to Nature Scot (formerly Scot­tish Nat­ur­al Her­it­age) advice for developers on a range of nat­ur­al her­it­age interests includ­ing pro­tec­ted areas, pro­tec­ted spe­cies and licens­ing require­ments, which can be accessed via https://www.nature.scot/professional- advice/­plan­ning-and- devel­op­ment/ad­vice-plan­ners-and- developers.

• For devel­op­ment sites with the poten­tial to affect pro­tec­ted spe­cies includ­ing the hab­it­ats they rely on (for example, fig­ure 6), sur­veys car­ried out by an appro­pri­ately exper­i­enced (and licensed if neces­sary) per­son will be required at the earli­est stage to inform site lay­out and design.

• Sur­vey reports, and where neces­sary Spe­cies Pro­tec­tion Plans, should be sub­mit­ted along with applic­a­tions for plan­ning per­mis­sion in prin­ciple, as well as full plan­ning per­mis­sion. This will enable the Plan­ning Author­ity, in con­sulta­tion with Nature Scot, to

determ­ine wheth­er the leg­al require­ments of pro­tec­ted spe­cies legis­la­tion can be met, and wheth­er a spe­cies license is required to enable devel­op­ment to proceed.

Fig­ure 6 water vole burrows

• For devel­op­ment sites with the poten­tial to be con­nec­ted to the hab­it­ats or spe­cies of European pro­tec­ted areas (i.e. Spe­cial Pro­tec­tion Areas and Spe­cial Areas of Con­ser­va­tion, pre­vi­ously known as Natura sites), suf­fi­cient inform­a­tion must be provided with the plan­ning applic­a­tion to enable the Plan­ning Author­ity to carry out a HRA. Devel­op­ment does not have to be

with­in or close a European site for there to be poten­tial con­nectiv­ity. For example there may be hydro­lo­gic­al con­nec­tions, mobile spe­cies that also use the wider area, or impacts caused by increased human activ­ity in the wider area as a res­ult of the devel­op­ment. More inform­a­tion on HRAs and European sites can be found on the Scot­tish Nat­ur­al Her­it­age web­site via https://www.nature.scot/professional- advice/­plan­ning-and- devel­op­ment/ad­vice-plan­ners-and- developer­s/­plan­ning-and-devel­op­ment- protected-areas.

• Nature Scot provide advice and links to advice from oth­er organ­isa­tions on how to min­im­ise the effects of con­struc­tion on nat­ur­al her­it­age interests for a range of dif­fer­ent devel­op­ment types, avail­able via https://www.nature.scot/professional- advice/­plan­ning-and- devel­op­ment/ad­vice-plan­ners-and- developer­s/­plan­ning-and-devel­op­ment- good-practice-construction.

---

• SEPA provide a range of inform­a­tion in rela­tion to devel­op­ment and the water envir­on­ment, includ­ing Sus­tain­able Urb­an Drain­age Sys­tems (SuDS), which can address site drain­age issues as well as provid­ing an oppor­tun­ity for biod­iversity enhance­ment. This can be found via https://​www​.sepa​.org​.uk/​r​e​g​u​l​a​t​i​o​ns/wa ter/​and https://​www​.sepa​.org​.uk/​r​e​g​u​l​a​t​i​o​ns/wa ter­/dif­fuse-pol­lu­tion/dif­fuse-pol­lu­tion-in- the-urban-environment/.

• Devel­op­ment pro­pos­als and decisions should be informed by the most up to date:

  • Cairngorms Nature Action Plan (https://​cairngorms​.co​.uk/​w​o​r​king- togeth­er­/au­thor­ity/n­a­tion­al-park- strategies/​cnap/​);
  • Birds of Con­ser­va­tion Con­cern (https://​www​.bto​.org/our- sci­ence/­pro­ject­s/birdtrack­/bird- record­ing/birds-con­ser­va­tion- concern);

• UK Biod­iversity Action Plan (https://​jncc​.gov​.uk/​o​u​r​-​w​o​r​k/uk- bap/​); and

• Scot­tish Biod­iversity List (https://www.nature.scot/scotlands ‑biod­iversity/scot­tish-biod­iversity- strategy/scot­tish-biod­iversity-list).

Fig­ure 7 — cur­lew, a Cairngorms Nature Action Plan spe­cies red lis­ted in the 2015 Birds of Con­ser­va­tion Con­cern 44, a UK BAP and Scot­tish biod­iversity list species

⁴ Pub­lished in 2015, avail­able via https://​www​.bto​.org/​o​u​r​-​s​c​i​e​n​c​e​/​p​u​b​l​i​c​a​t​i​o​n​s​/psob

---

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2020 Non-stat­utory guid­ance Policy 4 – Nat­ur­al Heritage

This doc­u­ment is avail­able in large print on request. Please con­tact the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity on 01479 873535. It is also avail­able to view at www​.cairngorms​.co​.uk

Pub­lished by Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity 14 The Square Grant­own-on-Spey PH26 3HG

Email: planning@​cairngorms.​co.​uk Tel: 01479 873535 Fax: 01479 873527

www​.cairngorms​.co​.uk

© CNPA 2020. All rights reserved.