Item6Appendix2HRAGlenClova

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Agenda Item 6 Appendix 2 27/08/2021

AGENDA ITEM 6

APPENDIX 2

2021/0172/DET

HAB­IT­ATS REG­U­LA­TIONS APPRAISAL

HAB­IT­ATS REG­U­LA­TIONS APPRAISAL

Plan­ning ref­er­ence and pro­pos­al inform­a­tion	2021/0172/DET, form­a­tion, main­ten­ance and upgrad­ing of a vehicu­lar access track (part ret­ro­spect­ive), land at Glen Clova Estate, Glen Clova, Angus
Appraised by	Ed Swales, Mon­it­or­ing and Enforce­ment Offi­cerN­ina Caudrey, Plan­ning Officer
Date	03/08/2021
Checked by
Date

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INFORM­A­TION |European site details| | — -| |Name of European site(s) poten­tially affected| |1. Cairngorms Mas­sif SPA2. River South Esk SAC| |Qual­i­fy­ing interest(s)| |1. Cairngorms Mas­sif SPAB­reed­ing golden eagle2. River South Esk SAC­Fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­selAt­lantic sal­mon| |Con­ser­va­tion object­ives for qual­i­fy­ing interests| |1. Cairngorms Mas­sif SPATo 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; andTo ensure for the qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies that the fol­low­ing are main­tained in the long term:− 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− Pop­u­la­tion of the spe­cies as a viable com­pon­ent of the site2. River South Esk SAC­Con­ser­va­tion Object­ive 2. To ensure that the integ­rity of the River South Esk SAC is restored by meet­ing object­ives 2a, 2b, 2c for each qual­i­fy­ing fea­ture (and 2^d for fresh­wa­ter pearl mussel):2b. Restore the dis­tri­bu­tion of fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­sel through­out the site2c. Restore the hab­it­ats sup­port­ing fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­sel with­in the site and avail­ab­il­ity of food2d. Restore the dis­tri­bu­tion and viab­il­ity of fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­sel host spe­cies and their sup­port­ing habitats2a. Restore the pop­u­la­tion of fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­sel as a viable com­pon­ent of the site2b. Restore the dis­tri­bu­tion of Atlantic sal­mon through­out the site2c. Restore the hab­it­ats sup­port­ing Atlantic sal­mon with­in the site and avail­ab­il­ity of food2a. Restore the pop­u­la­tion of Atlantic sal­mon, includ­ing range of genet­ic types, as a viable com­pon­ent of the site|

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Con­ser­va­tion Object­ive 1. To ensure that the qual­i­fy­ing fea­tures of the River South Esk SAC are in favour­able con­di­tion and make an appro­pri­ate con­tri­bu­tion to achiev­ing favour­able con­ser­va­tion status

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APPRAIS­AL |STAGE 1:| | — -| |What is the plan or pro­ject?| |Rel­ev­ant sum­mary details of pro­pos­al (includ­ing loc­a­tion, tim­ing, meth­ods, etc)| |Ret­ro­spect­ive per­mis­sion for con­struc­tion of a 600m track for forestry pur­poses. The track has been con­struc­ted with­in a forestry block and is not con­nec­ted to the road. There is plant­a­tion wood­land and a grassed area between the edge of the track and the road­side. The tip of the west­ern upslope end of the track is just within/​on the bound­ary of the Cairngorms Mas­sif SPA. The closest part of the River South Esk SAC is approx­im­ately 200m downslope to the east through plant­a­tion, across a pub­lic road and field.| |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)?| |1. Cairngorms Mas­sif SPA­Likely sig­ni­fic­ant effect on golden eagle due to the track being with­in the SPA there­fore poten­tial to affect the hab­it­at of the prey spe­cies and poten­tial dis­turb­ance to breed­ing eagle should they be breed­ing nearby.2. River South Esk SAC­Po­ten­tial for sed­i­ment release affect­ing water qual­ity dur­ing con­struc­tion and oper­a­tion of track. How­ever forestry, field and the pub­lic road between the track and the nearest water­course con­nec­ted to the SAC (the water­course is approx­im­ately 150m from the closest part of the track). There­fore in the unlikely event of sed­i­ment release in extreme weath­er, the inter­ven­ing veget­a­tion and infra­struc­ture would pre­vent sed­i­ment reach­ing the water­course there­fore no likely sig­ni­fic­ant effect.| |STAGE 4:| |Under­take an Appro­pri­ate Assess­ment of the implic­a­tions for the site(s) in view of the(ir) con­ser­va­tion object­ives| |1. Cairngorms Mas­sif SPADis­tri­bu­tion of the spe­cies with­in siteThere is a very small area of track with­in SPA. It is next to exist­ing forestry and the pub­lic road, there­fore this area is unlikely to be heav­ily used by golden eagle due to unsuit­ab­il­ity of hab­it­at and exist­ing levels of human activ­ity. There­fore the dis­tri­bu­tion of the spe­cies of the site should not be affected. There­fore this con­ser­va­tion object­ive will be met.Distribution and extent of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the species|

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Struc­ture, func­tion and sup­port­ing pro­cesses of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the spe­cies Hab­it­at under­neath the small area of tip of the track with­in the SPA eis dis­turbed ground as part of an exist­ing forestry plant­a­tion, of low value to prey spe­cies to golden eagle. There­fore the dis­tri­bu­tion of and extent of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the spe­cies should not be affected. There­fore this con­ser­va­tion object­ive will be met. No sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance of the spe­cies Due to the exist­ing land uses and hab­it­at type’s it is unlikely this area is well used or relied upon by golden eagle for either for­aging or breed­ing. In addi­tion only a very small area of the tip of the track is with­in the SPA mean­ing that human activ­ity in the forestry it serves would not encroach into the SPA. So there would not be any sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance of the spe­cies. There­fore this con­ser­va­tion object­ive will be met. Pop­u­la­tion of the spe­cies as a viable com­pon­ent of the site As all the oth­er con­ser­va­tion object­ives have been met, there will be no effect on the pop­u­la­tion of the spe­cies There­fore this con­ser­va­tion object­ive will be met. |STAGE 5:| |Can it be ascer­tained that there will not be an adverse effect on site integ­rity?| |For the Cairngorms Mas­sif SPA, all the con­ser­va­tion object­ives will be met. There­fore there will not be an adverse effect on site integrity.|

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