Item6Appendix2HabitatsRegulationsAppraisal20220012DETKilliecrankieHouses

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Agenda Item 6 Appendix 2 22/04/2022

AGENDA ITEM 6

APPENDIX 2

2022/0012/DET

HAB­IT­ATS REG­U­LA­TIONS APPRAISAL

HAB­IT­ATS REG­U­LA­TIONS APPRAISAL

Plan­ning ref­er­ence and pro­pos­al information	2022/0012/DET Erec­tion of 6 dwell­ing houses and asso­ci­ated works, former rail­way yard, Kil­liecrankie. Con­nec­tion to mains water and waste water system.
Appraised by	Nina Caudrey, Devel­op­ment Plan­ning and Envir­on­ment­al Advice
Date	7 Feb­ru­ary 2022
Checked by	NatureScot
Date	14 Feb­ru­ary 2022

INFORM­A­TION

European site details
Name of European site(s) poten­tially affected	River Tay SAC
Qual­i­fy­ing interest(s)	Atlantic sal­mon Clear water lakes or lochs with aquat­ic veget­a­tion and poor to mod­er­ate nutri­ent levels River lamprey Brook lamprey Sea lamprey Otter
Con­ser­va­tion object­ives for qual­i­fy­ing interests
Hab­it­at	Con­ser­va­tion Object­ive 2. To ensure that the integ­rity of River Tay SAC is main­tained by meet­ing object­ives 2a, 2b and 2c 2b. Main­tain the struc­ture, func­tion and sup­port­ing pro­cesses of clear-water lakes or lochs with aquat­ic veget­a­tion and poor to mod­er­ate nutri­ent levels 2c. Restore the hab­it­ats sup­port­ing Atlantic sal­mon with­in the site and avail­ab­il­ity of food 2a. Main­tain the dis­tri­bu­tion and viab­il­ity of typ­ic­al spe­cies of clear-water lakes or lochs with aquat­ic veget­a­tion and poor to mod­er­ate nutri­ent levels Con­ser­va­tion object­ive I: To ensure that the qual­i­fy­ing fea­ture (clear water lakes etc) of the River Tay SAC is in favour­able con­di­tion and makes an appro­pri­ate con­tri­bu­tion to achiev­ing favour­able con­ser­va­tion status.
Spe­cies	Con­ser­va­tion Object­ive 2. To ensure that the integ­rity of the River Tay is main­tained by meet­ing object­ives 2a, 2b and 2c for each qual­i­fy­ing fea­ture. 2b. Main­tain the dis­tri­bu­tion of the lamprey spe­cies through­out the site 2c. Main­tain the hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the lamprey spe­cies’ with­in the site, and avail­ab­il­ity of food 2a. Main­tain the pop­u­la­tion of the lamprey spe­cies’ as viable com­pon­ents of the site 2b. Main­tain the dis­tri­bu­tion of Atlantic sal­mon through­out the site 2c. Main­tain the hab­it­ats sup­port­ing Atlantic sal­mon with­in the site and avail­ab­il­ity of food 2a. Main­tain the pop­u­la­tion of Atlantic sal­mon, includ­ing range of genet­ic types, as a viable com­pon­ent of the site

2b. Main­tain the dis­tri­bu­tion of otter through­out the site 2c. Main­tain the hab­it­ats sup­port­ing otter with­in the site and avail­ab­il­ity of food 2a. Main­tain the pop­u­la­tion of otter as viable com­pon­ents of the site

Con­ser­va­tion object­ive I: To ensure that the qual­i­fy­ing (spe­cies) fea­tures of River Tay SAC are in favour­able con­di­tion and make an appro­pri­ate con­tri­bu­tion to achiev­ing favour­able con­ser­va­tion status.

APPRAIS­AL

STAGE 1:
What is the plan or project?
Rel­ev­ant sum­mary details of pro­pos­al (includ­ing loc­a­tion, tim­ing, meth­ods, etc)	Erec­tion of 6 dwell­ing houses and asso­ci­ated works, former rail­way yard, Kil­liecrankie. Con­nec­tion to mains water and waste water sys­tem. Ground clear­ance includ­ing remov­al of exist­ing scrub and 9 trees will be required to pre­pare the site. The River Garry, part of the SAC, is approx­im­ately 50m to the south from the pro­posed devel­op­ment site, through a steep wooded and rocky embank­ment. The pro­posed devel­op­ment site is set back from the top of the embank­ment, loc­ated on a flat area, bounded to the west by a pub­lic road and the north by the rail­way line. There is exist­ing hous­ing to the east, less than approx­im­ately 40m from the pro­posed devel­op­ment site. The hous­ing is in closer prox­im­ity to the river than the pro­posed devel­op­ment site. Con­nec­tion to mains water and sew­er­age is proposed.
STAGE 2:
Is the plan or pro­ject dir­ectly con­nec­ted with or neces­sary for the man­age­ment of the European site for nature conservation?	No.
STAGE 3:
Is the plan or pro­ject (either alone or in-com­bin­a­tion with oth­er plans or pro­jects) likely to have a sig­ni­fic­ant effect on the site(s)?	NO LSE for any of the spe­cies or the qual­i­fy­ing hab­it­at from pol­lu­tion caused by sed­i­ment release dur­ing con­struc­tion: Although the pro­posed devel­op­ment site is in close prox­im­ity when con­sidered on a map, on the ground the loc­a­tion of the pro­posed devel­op­ment on a flat plat­eaux set back from the river, com­bined with the inter­ven­ing wooded embank­ment, mean that there should not be a risk of sed­i­ment release get­ting as far as to reach the SAC dur­ing con­struc­tion. NO LSE from to dis­turb­ance to otter: The exposed bed­rock and flashy nature of the River Garry (due to upstream hydro­elec­tric power sta­tions) makes the loc­a­tion inhos­pit­able for otter. Com­bined with the steep embank­ment mak­ing recre­ation­al use of the ripari­an area unat­tract­ive to people, and the exist­ing hous­ing provid­ing an exist­ing level of human activ­ity in prox­im­ity to the river (albeit set back at the top of the embank­ment, as the pro­posed devel­op­ment would be) means there is no risk of dis­turb­ance to otter. As there will be no LSE on any of the qual­i­fy­ing interests, no fur­ther assess­ment is required.
STAGE 4:
Under­take an Appro­pri­ate Assess­ment of the implic­a­tions for the site(s) in view of

the(ir) con­ser­va­tion objectives
STAGE 5:
Can it be ascer­tained that there will not be an adverse effect on site integrity?