Item6Appendix2HRA20210064DET

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Agenda Item 6 Appendix 2 14/05/2021

AGENDA ITEM 6

APPENDIX 2

2021/0064/DET

HAB­IT­ATS REG­U­LA­TIONS APPRAISAL

HAB­IT­ATS REG­U­LA­TIONS APPRAISAL

Plan­ning ref­er­ence and pro­pos­al inform­a­tion	2021/0064/DET, Form­a­tion of track, Land 810M SW Of The School­house Insh Kingussie
Appraised by	Ed Swales — Mon­it­or­ing and Enforce­ment Officer Nina Caudrey — Plan­ning Officer
Date	22/04/2021
Checked by	Sally Mack­en­zie
Date	27 April 2021

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INFORM­A­TION European site details

Name of European site(s) poten­tially affected
1. Insh Marshes SAC 2. River Spey — Insh Marshes SPA 3. River Spey — Insh Marshes Ram­sar 4. River Spey SAC

Qual­i­fy­ing interest(s)

1. Insh Marshes SAC
Hab­it­ats: Alder wood­land on flood­plains Clear-water lakes or lochs with aquat­ic veget­a­tion and poor to mod­er­ate nutri­ent levels Very wet mires often iden­ti­fied by an unstable quaking sur­face Spe­cies: Otter
2. River Spey – Insh Marshes SPA
—-
Non-breed­ing: Whoop­er swan Hen har­ri­er Breed­ing: Spot­ted crake Osprey Wigeon Wood sandpiper
3. River Spey – Insh Marshes Ram­sar site
—-
Hab­it­ats: Meso­trop­ic loch Flood plain fen Troph­ic range river/​stream Spe­cies: Breed­ing bird assemblage (osprey, spot­ted crake, wood sand­piper, black headed gull) Non-breed­ing whoop­er swan
4. River Spey SAC
—-
Atlantic sal­mon Fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­sel Otter Sea lamprey

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Con­ser­va­tion object­ives for qual­i­fy­ing interests

1. Insh Marshes SAC
Hab­it­ats: To avoid deteri­or­a­tion of the qual­i­fy­ing hab­it­ats (lis­ted below) thus ensur­ing that the integ­rity of the site is main­tained and the site makes an appro­pri­ate con­tri­bu­tion to achiev­ing favour­able con­ser­va­tion status for each of the qual­i­fy­ing fea­tures; and To ensure for the qual­i­fy­ing hab­it­ats that the fol­low­ing are main­tained in the long term: Extent of the hab­it­at on site Dis­tri­bu­tion of the hab­it­at with­in site Struc­ture and func­tion of the hab­it­at Pro­cesses sup­port­ing the hab­it­at Dis­tri­bu­tion of typ­ic­al spe­cies of the hab­it­at Viab­il­ity of typ­ic­al spe­cies as com­pon­ents of the hab­it­at No sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance of typ­ic­al spe­cies of the hab­it­at Spe­cies: To avoid deteri­or­a­tion of the hab­it­ats of the qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies or sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance to the qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies, thus ensur­ing that the integ­rity of the site is main­tained and the site makes an appro­pri­ate con­tri­bu­tion to achiev­ing favour­able con­ser­va­tion status for each of the qual­i­fy­ing fea­tures; 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 site Dis­tri­bu­tion and extent of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the spe­cies Struc­ture, func­tion and sup­port­ing pro­cesses of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the spe­cies No sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance of the species
2. River Spey – Insh Marshes SPA
—-
To avoid deteri­or­a­tion of the hab­it­ats of the qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies 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 site Dis­tri­bu­tion and extent of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the spe­cies Struc­ture, func­tion and sup­port­ing pro­cesses of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the spe­cies No sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance of the species
3.River Spey – Insh Marshes Ramsar
—-
There are no set con­ser­va­tion object­ives for Ram­sar sites, how­ever Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment policy is to apply the same level of pro­tec­tion as if they were SPAs. There­fore the River Spey – Insh Marshes SPA con­ser­va­tion object­ives can be applied to the Ram­sar site features.
4. River Spey SAC
—-
To avoid deteri­or­a­tion of the hab­it­ats of the qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies (lis­ted below) or sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance to the qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies, thus ensur­ing that the integ­rity of the site is main­tained and the site makes an appro­pri­ate con­tri­bu­tion to achiev­ing favour­able con­ser­va­tion status for each of the qual­i­fy­ing fea­tures; and

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To ensure for the qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies that the fol­low­ing are main­tained in the long term: Pop­u­la­tion of the spe­cies, includ­ing range of genet­ic types for sal­mon, as a viable com­pon­ent of the site Dis­tri­bu­tion of the spe­cies with­in site Dis­tri­bu­tion and extent of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the spe­cies Struc­ture, func­tion and sup­port­ing pro­cesses of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the spe­cies No sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance of the spe­cies Dis­tri­bu­tion and viab­il­ity of fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­sel host spe­cies Struc­ture, func­tion and sup­port­ing pro­cesses of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­sel host species

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APPRAIS­AL

STAGE 1:
What is the plan or project?
Rel­ev­ant sum­mary details of pro­pos­al (includ­ing loc­a­tion, tim­ing, meth­ods, etc)
The pro­pos­al is to upgrade a 470m sec­tion of exist­ing grassed track to a hard­core vehicle track at Insh Marshes. The ground will be scraped out, mat­ting put down and 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 works will be car­ried out and that the works will be under­taken between August and March, avoid­ing the breed­ing bird sea­son as well as any works being car­ried out one hour after dawn and one hour before dusk to avoid dis­turb­ance to otter. Due to the tracks prox­im­ity to the River Spey and fea­tures of the River Spey – Insh Marshes SPA (and Ram­sar site) and to avoid any sed­i­ment­a­tion impacts of the con­struc­tion, works will avoid being under­taken dur­ing wet weather.
STAGE 2:
—-
Is the plan or pro­ject dir­ectly con­nec­ted with or neces­sary for the man­age­ment of the European site for nature conservation?
No, this is not dir­ectly con­nec­ted with or neces­sary for the man­age­ment of the sites.
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)?
1. Insh Marshes SAC
—-
Hab­it­ats no likely sig­ni­fic­ant effect. There will be no dir­ect or indir­ect effects on the qual­i­fy­ing hab­it­ats as they are not found along the track route or work­ing cor­ridor. Otter — yes, poten­tial likely sig­ni­fic­ant affect through dis­turb­ance dur­ing con­struc­tion. The applic­ant has con­firmed that there are no otter holts in the vicin­ity of the pro­posed works. How­ever it is likely that otter use the area to for­age so dis­turb­ance to for­aging otter could occur dur­ing con­struc­tion if works are not timed to avoid between one hour before sun­set and one hour after sunrise.
2. River Spey – Insh Marshes SPA
—-
Breed­ing osprey, spot­ted crake, wood sand­piper – no likely sig­ni­fic­ant effect as they are not known to use the area sur­round­ing the pro­posed track. (Hen har­ri­ers may hunt over the area as part of wider for­aging ground, but the loss of hab­it­at caused by the upgrad­ing of this track would have no effect as it is already degraded by exist­ing vehicle use, cov­ers a very small area and there is plenty of altern­at­ive for­aging hab­it­at in the vicin­ity that is of bet­ter qual­ity.) Non-breed­ing whoop­er swan and breed­ing wigeon — likely sig­ni­fic­ant effect through poten­tial for sed­i­ment run off dur­ing con­struc­tion pol­lut­ing the nearby oxbow lake. The track pro­posed for upgrad­ing is close to an ox-bow lake that has poten­tial to be used by wigeon and whoop­er swan. Sed­i­ment run off occur­ring dur­ing con­struc­tion could pol­lute the lake, chan­ging water qual­ity and smoth­er­ing hab­it­at relied upon by the

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prey spe­cies and food sources of the birds.
3. River Spey – Insh Marshes Ram­sar site
—-
Meso­troph­ic loch, flood plain fen, troph­ic range river/​stream no likely sig­ni­fic­ant effect as there is no con­nectiv­ity to these hab­it­ats. Breed­ing bird assemblage (osprey, spot­ted crake, wood sand­piper, black headed gull) – no likely sig­ni­fic­ant effect as these spe­cies are not known to use the area sur­round­ing the pro­posed track. Non-breed­ing whoop­er swan – likely sig­ni­fic­ant effect through poten­tial for sed­i­ment run off dur­ing con­struc­tion pol­lut­ing the nearby oxbow lake. The track pro­posed for upgrad­ing is close to an ox-bow lake that has poten­tial to be used by wigeon and whoop­er swan. Sed­i­ment run off occur­ring dur­ing con­struc­tion could pol­lute the lake, chan­ging water qual­ity and smoth­er­ing hab­it­at relied upon by the prey spe­cies and food sources of the birds.
4. River Spey SAC
—-
Atlantic sal­mon, sea lamprey, fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­sel no likely sig­ni­fic­ant effect due to topo­graphy (large embank­ment between the pro­posed works and the River Spey) and no water­course con­nectiv­ity between the site and River Spey. Otter — likely sig­ni­fic­ant effect due to poten­tial for dis­turb­ance dur­ing con­struc­tion. The applic­ant has con­firmed that there are no otter holts in the vicin­ity of the pro­posed works. How­ever it is likely that otter use the area to for­age so dis­turb­ance to for­aging otter could occur dur­ing con­struc­tion if works are not timed to avoid between one hour before sun­set and one hour after sunrise.
STAGE 4:
—-
Under­take an Appro­pri­ate Assess­ment of the implic­a­tions for the site(s) in view of the(ir) con­ser­va­tion objectives
The applic­ant has included mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures in their Con­struc­tion Meth­od State­ment (received 27th 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 ox-box lake. I and 4. Insh Marshes SAC and River Spey SAC Otter. The con­ser­va­tion object­ives rel­ev­ant to otter are: Dis­tri­bu­tion and extent of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the spe­cies; Struc­ture, func­tion and sup­port­ing pro­cesses of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the spe­cies: there will not be an effect on hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the spe­cies, there­fore these con­ser­va­tion object­ives will be met. Dis­tri­bu­tion of the spe­cies with­in site; No sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance of the spe­cies: the tim­ing of works to avoid overnight otter for­aging activ­ity will ensure there is no dis­turb­ance of the spe­cies and so no dis­place­ment affect­ing their dis­tri­bu­tion, there­fore these con­ser­va­tion object­ives will be met.

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Pop­u­la­tion of the spe­cies, includ­ing range of genet­ic types for sal­mon, as a viable com­pon­ent of the site: as the oth­er con­ser­va­tion object­ives are met, there will not be an effect on the pop­u­la­tion of the spe­cies and so this con­ser­va­tion object­ive will be met.
2 (and 3). River Spey – Insh Marshes SPA (and Ram­sar site)
—-
Non-breed­ing whoop­er swan (SPA and Ram­sar) and breed­ing wigeon (SPA only) The con­ser­va­tion object­ives rel­ev­ant to whoop­er swan and wigeon are: Dis­tri­bu­tion and extent of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the spe­cies; Struc­ture, func­tion and sup­port­ing pro­cesses of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the spe­cies: provided the mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures set out in the Con­struc­tion Meth­od State­ment relat­ing to pol­lu­tion pre­ven­tion are imple­men­ted, then there will not be an effect on hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the spe­cies, there­fore these con­ser­va­tion object­ives will be met. Dis­tri­bu­tion of the spe­cies with­in site; No sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance of the spe­cies: although whoop­er swan and wigeon may use the ox-box lake in the vicin­ity of the pro­posed track, provided the mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures in rela­tion to tim­ing works out­with the breed­ing sea­son are imple­men­ted, then wigeon should not be present and so these con­ser­va­tion object­ives will be met for wigeon. In rela­tion to whoop­er swan, they are more likely to use oth­er more suit­able water­bod­ies in the sur­round­ing area. Any swan using the lake will be habitu­ated to exist­ing vehicu­lar activ­ity using the exist­ing track. How­ever, should they be present at the ox- bow lake dur­ing con­struc­tion, they may be tem­por­ar­ily dis­turbed by the increased activ­ity dis­placed to oth­er more suit­able hab­it­at in the sur­round­ing area. The dis­place­ment would be short term and revers­ible. There­fore these con­ser­va­tion object­ives would also still be met for whoop­er swan. Pop­u­la­tion of the spe­cies as a viable com­pon­ent of the site: as the oth­er con­ser­va­tion object­ives will be met, there will not be an effect on the pop­u­la­tion of the spe­cies, and so this con­ser­va­tion object­ive will be met.
STAGE 5:
—-
Can it be ascer­tained that there will not be an adverse effect on site integrity?
Provided the work­ing meth­ods and mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures set out in the Con­struc­tion Meth­od State­ment iden­ti­fied in Stage 4 are fol­lowed and is applied as a con­di­tion on any plan­ning per­mis­sion gran­ted and sub­sequently fully imple­men­ted, then the con­ser­va­tion object­ives will be met for the Insh Marshes SAC, River Spey — Insh Marshes SPA (and Ram­sar site) and the River Spey SAC, and there­fore there will not be an adverse effect on site integ­rity for any of the European sites.

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