Item7AAAltnacrichePriorApproval20220242DET

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 7 23/09/2022

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHORITY

DEVEL­OP­MENT PRO­POSED: Pri­or Approv­al — Private forest way, series of tracks at Series of Hill Tracks Near Altnacriche

REF­ER­ENCE: 2022/0242/DET

APPLIC­ANT: Lost Forest Ltd

DATE CALLED-IN: 25 July 2022

RECOM­MEND­A­TION: Approve sub­ject to conditions

CASE OFFICER: Ed Swales, Mon­it­or­ing and Enforce­ment Officer

CNPA Plan­ning Committee

Applic­a­tion Site 0 145 290 N Meters 580

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 7 23/09/2022

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 7 23/09/2022

SITE DESCRIP­TION, PRO­POS­AL AND HISTORY

Site Descrip­tion

1. The applic­a­tion site, Alt­nac­riche, Kin­rara is approx­im­ately I mile south west of Aviemore and accessed from the north­ern side of the A9. The site is accessed via an estate access track known loc­ally as ​“the Burma Road.” The pro­posed tracks are on the south facing slopes to the west of Craigel­lach­ie Nation­al Nature Reserve.

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=RF9TVWSI0CP00

Title	Draw­ing Num­ber	Date on Plan*	Date Received
Pol­lu­tion pre­ven­tion and con­trol schedule		27/07/22	31/08/22
Revised Pol­lu­tion pre­ven­tion and con­trol sched­ule map 4			24/08/22
Revised Pol­lu­tion pre­ven­tion and con­trol sched­ule map 3			24/08/22
Revised Pol­lu­tion pre­ven­tion and con­trol sched­ule map 2			24/08/22
Revised Pol­lu­tion pre­ven­tion and con­trol sched­ule map I			24/08/22
Pre-Com­mence­ment Pol­lu­tion Con­trol Plan		23/08/22	31/08/22
Loc­a­tion Plan		16/06/22	20/07/22
Machine Ramp Illustrations			01/08/22
Baseline Eco­logy Report			01/08/22
Peat Depth Sur­vey Map (01)		02/07/21	22/08/22
Peat Depth Sur­vey Map (02)		02/07/21	22/08/22
Peat Depth Sur­vey Map (03)		02/07/21	22/08/22
Peat Depth Sur­vey Map (04)		02/07/21	22/08/22
Guide 6.02 Mon­it­or­ing Water Quality		01/08/22	24/08/22
Guide 6.08 Forest Road Works		01/08/22	24/08/22
Guide 6.15 Pre-Oper­a­tion­al Dif­fuse Pol­lu­tion Planning		01/08/22	24/08/22

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 7 23/09/2022

| Guide 6.03 Silt Traps and Fil­ter Zones | | 01/08/22 | 24/08/22 |

*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 for pri­or approv­al, rather than a full plan­ning applic­a­tion and is for the cre­ation of ATV tracks as well as improve­ments of ATV access on to the hill­side in order that a wood­land cre­ation scheme can be under­taken. The wood­land cre­ation scheme (Scot­tish Forestry ref­er­ence 21FGS62745) has been approved for Nat­ive Scot Pine on lower slopes and Nat­ive Upland Birch on upper slopes across a wider area than the pri­or approv­al applic­a­tion applies to.

2. The pro­pos­al is for the scrap­ing and improv­ing of drain­age on exist­ing ATV routes as well as the cre­ation of two new machine ramps. The works to ATV routes are inten­ded to be mod­est works on, regrad­ing where exist­ing sur­faces are eroded, and ensur­ing water drains safely to con­trolled drain­age. The ATV track main­ten­ance will not import any new mater­i­als, the re-grad­ing will util­ise exist­ing in situ mater­i­als and as dug nat­ive mater­i­als to improve cam­ber and fill areas of erosion. Two exist­ing ATV fords will be replaced with cul­verts, one of which requires SEPA approv­al which has already been gran­ted. The new access ramps from exist­ing vehicle tracks are the most sig­ni­fic­ant new works, cre­ated ramps that allow large tracked vehicles to access the slopes for plant­ing. Stripped turf will be restored to the ramps fol­low­ing tree plant­ing and the ramps will not be designed for nor­mal vehicle use.

His­tory

1. There is no rel­ev­ant plan­ning his­tory for the site.

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 & 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	OPEN SPACE, SPORT AND RECREATION
POLICY 9	CUL­TUR­AL HERITAGE
POLICY 10	RESOURCES
POLICY 11	DEVELOPER CON­TRI­BU­TIONS

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 7 23/09/2022

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​1​/​0​3​/​C​N​P​A​-​L​D​P​-​2​0​2​1​-​w​e​b.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	Sport and Recre­ation Non-Stat­utory Guidance
Policy 9	Cul­tur­al Her­it­age Non-Stat­utory Guidance
Policy 10	Resources Non-Stat­utory Guidance
Policy 11	Developer Con­tri­bu­tions Sup­ple­ment­ary Guid­ance (2015)

Hab­it­ats Reg­u­la­tions Apprais­al (HRA)

1. A HRA has been under­taken to con­sider the effects of the pro­pos­al upon the con­ser­va­tion objec­tions of the European Site, the River Spey SAC. A copy of the full apprais­al can be viewed at Appendix 2.

2. Regard­ing the River Spey SAC, it is con­cluded that the pro­pos­al would have a likely sig­ni­fic­ant effect due to poten­tial for sed­i­ment release affect­ing water qual­ity. How­ever, the imple­ment­a­tion of the meas­ures in the pol­lu­tion pre­ven­tion and con­trol sched­ule and accom­pa­ny­ing pre-com­mence­ment pol­lu­tion con­trol plan sub­mit­ted to CNPA on 31 August 2022 would min­im­ise the risk of sed­i­ment reach­ing water­courses con­nec­ted to the SAC. Provided a con­di­tion requir­ing the pol­lu­tion pre­ven­tion and con­trol sched­ule is imple­men­ted in full, is applied, then the con­ser­va­tion object­ives should be met.

CON­SULTA­TIONS

Sum­mary of the main issues raised by consultees

1. High­land Coun­cil Archae­ology Officer states there does not appear to be any issues regard­ing poten­tial impact on the known his­tor­ic envir­on­ment in rela­tion to the above applic­a­tion. How­ever, it is expec­ted that the applic­ant will adhere to the UK Forestry Stand­ard guidelines if pre­vi­ously unre­cor­ded archae­olo­gic­al remains are encountered dur­ing track con­struc­tion and upgrad­ing as well as any forestry works.

2. CNPA Eco­logy Officer sug­gests there will be lim­ited effects on the River Spey SAC due to com­pli­ance with pol­lu­tion pre­ven­tion and con­trol sched­ule and accompanying

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 7 23/09/2022

pre-com­mence­ment pol­lu­tion con­trol plan as well as fol­low­ing UK Forestry Stand­ards and CAR licence requirements.

1. Kin­craig and Vicin­ity Com­munity Coun­cil were con­sul­ted but have not provided any comments.

REP­RES­ENT­A­TIONS

1. There have been no rep­res­ent­a­tions received for this applic­a­tion for pri­or approval.

APPRAIS­AL

Prin­ciple

1. This is an applic­a­tion is for Pri­or Approv­al to con­firm the details required in order for per­mit­ted devel­op­ment rights for forestry related devel­op­ment of private ways to apply. The prin­ciple that the pro­posed tracks are forestry-related is not in ques­tion as they are part of and are iden­ti­fied with­in, the wood­land cre­ation plan approved by Scot­tish Forestry under case ref­er­ence 21FGS62745.

Envir­on­ment­al Impacts

1. Policy 4: Nat­ur­al Her­it­age of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021 seeks to ensure that there is no adverse impact upon des­ig­nated areas, pro­tec­ted spe­cies, or biodiversity.

2. A Hab­it­ats Reg­u­la­tions Apprais­al has been under­taken and iden­ti­fies that the pro­pos­al would have a likely sig­ni­fic­ant effect due to poten­tial for sed­i­ment release affect­ing water qual­ity. How­ever, sub­ject to the applic­ant fol­low­ing the approved pol­lu­tion pre­ven­tion and con­trol sched­ule which will be secured through the inclu­sion of a plan­ning con­di­tion, as well as fol­low­ing UK forestry stand­ards for affor­est­a­tion, the HRA con­cludes that there would not be an adverse effect on site integrity.

3. Sub­ject to the inclu­sion of the recom­men­ded plan­ning con­di­tion, the pro­pos­al is con­sidered to com­ply with Policy 4: Nat­ur­al Her­it­age of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021.

Land­scape Impacts, Lay­out and Design

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.

2. The works pro­posed are to allow vehicle access dur­ing the plant­ing and early mon­it­or­ing phases as well as ongo­ing man­age­ment if neces­sary. The lower ATV routes are partly screened by exist­ing wood­land and will works will become screened by new nat­ive wood­land over time. Although there will be some lim­ited land­scape and visu­al impacts in the short term, the over­all impact is con­sidered lim­ited in extent and not to have sig­ni­fic­ant adverse effects on the spe­cial land­scape qual­it­ies of the Nation­al Park.

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 7 23/09/2022

The pro­pos­al is there­fore con­sidered to com­ply with Policy 5: Land­scape of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021.

CON­CLU­SION

1. Sub­ject to the recom­men­ded con­di­tions 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 Pri­or Approv­al — Private forest way, series of tracks at Alt­nac­riche sub­ject to the fol­low­ing conditions:

Those con­di­tions lis­ted below in bold text are sus­pens­ive con­di­tions, which require to be dis­charged pri­or to imple­ment­a­tion of the development.

Con­di­tions

1. The devel­op­ment hereby approved shall be car­ried out in com­plete accord­ance with the doc­u­ment titled ​“Pol­lu­tion pre­ven­tion and con­trol sched­ule” and the accom­pa­ny­ing pre- com­mence­ment pol­lu­tion con­trol plan, both sub­mit­ted to CNPA on 31 August 2022.

Reas­on: To ensure pol­lu­tion does not enter the River Spey SAC and so avoid an adverse effect on site integ­rity in com­pli­ance with Policy 4: Nat­ur­al Her­it­age 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.