Item7AACaddamGlenClova20200037NOT

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 7 22/05/2020

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHORITY

DEVEL­OP­MENT PROPOSED:

Pri­or approv­al for forestry-related build­ing works (non-res­id­en­tial) — main­ten­ance and upgrad­ing of exist­ing access tracks and form­a­tion of new access tracks, turn­ing areas, a bor­row pit and water cross­ings at Cad­dam Plant­a­tion Glen Clova

REF­ER­ENCE: 2020/0037/NOT

APPLIC­ANT: Mr Hugh Niven

DATE CALLED-IN: 10 Feb­ru­ary 2020

RECOM­MEND­A­TION: Approve

CASE OFFICER: Ed Swales Mon­it­or­ing and Enforce­ment Officer

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CNPA Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Applic­a­tion Site

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 7 22/05/2020

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 7 22/05/2020

SITE DESCRIP­TION, PRO­POS­AL AND HISTORY

Site Descrip­tion

1. The site is Cad­dam woods, on the Glen Clova estate, 15 miles north of Kirriemuir. The wood­land is on the west side of the B955 and is cur­rently being thinned. Some works have begun on the thin­ning pri­or to the applic­a­tion being made but not the track itself.

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​l​i​n​e​-​a​p​p​l​i​c​a​t​i​o​n​s​/​a​p​p​l​i​c​a​t​i​o​n​D​e​t​a​i​l​s​.​d​o​?​a​c​t​i​v​e​T​a​b​=​s​u​m​m​a​r​y​&​k​e​y​V​a​l​=​Q​5​8​6​9​P​S​I​0CH00

Title	Draw­ing Num­ber	Date on Plan*	Date Received
Loc­a­tion Map	1.1		24/04/2020
Track Over­view	1.2		24/04/2020
Track Over­view Detail Map	1.4		24/04/2020
Archae­ology Map	1.5		24/04/2020
Land­scape Apprais­al Map	3		24/04/2020
Sup­port­ing Inform­a­tion (includ­ing pro­tec­ted spe­cies sur­veys that are not avail­able for pub­lic viewing)	6		24/04/2020
*Where no spe­cif­ic day of month has been provided on the plan, the sys­tem defaults to the Ist of the month.

1. The applic­a­tion is for the con­struc­tion of a Ikm forestry track and upgrade of 600m of track with­in the wood­land to facil­it­ate the thin­ning as described above, the track will be 3.5m in width.

His­tory

1. A pri­or noti­fic­a­tion for new and upgraded forestry tracks in this loc­a­tion was made to Angus Coun­cil in 2019. Pri­or Approv­al was required due to poten­tial impacts on European Pro­tec­ted Spe­cies. There is no oth­er plan­ning his­tory on this part of the Glen Clova estate.

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 7 22/05/2020

DEVEL­OP­MENT PLAN CONTEXT

Policies

Nation­al Policy	Scot­tish Plan­ning Policy 2014
Stra­tegic Policy	Cairngorms Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan 2017 — 2022
	Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan (2015)
	Those policies rel­ev­ant to the assess­ment of this
Loc­al Plan Policy	applic­a­tion are marked with a cross
POLICY I	NEW HOUS­ING DEVELOPMENT
POLICY 2	SUP­PORT­ING ECO­NOM­IC GROWTH
POLICY 3	SUS­TAIN­ABLE DESIGN
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	SPORT AND RECREATION
POLICY 9	CUL­TUR­AL HERITAGE
POLICY 10	RESOURCES	X
POLICY 11	DEVELOPER CON­TRI­BU­TIONS

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: http://​cairngorms​.co​.uk/​u​p​l​o​a​d​s​/​d​o​c​u​m​e​n​t​s​/Park Authority/Planning/LDP15.pdf

2. Oth­er rel­ev­ant loc­al policies are (delete if not applicable)

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
Policy 2	Sup­port­ing Eco­nom­ic Growth Non-Stat­utory Guidance
Policy 3	Sus­tain­able Design Non-Stat­utory Guidance
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	X
Policy 11	Developer Con­tri­bu­tions Sup­ple­ment­ary Guidance

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 7 22/05/2020

CON­SULTA­TIONS

1. A sum­mary of the main issues raised by con­sul­tees now follows:
2. SNH state that the devel­op­ment is likely to have a sig­ni­fic­ant effect on fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­sels and Atlantic sal­mon asso­ci­ated with the Rivers South Esk SAC, and on golden eagle asso­ci­ated with the Cairngorms Mas­sif SPA. How­ever, they also con­clude that with a site-spe­cif­ic con­struc­tion meth­od state­ment, the pro­pos­al will not affect the River South Esk SAC and that the pro­pos­al will not affect the site integ­rity of the Cairngorms Mas­sif SPA because no eagle eyries are likely to be dis­turbed, loss of for­aging hab­it­at is min­im­al and dis­turb­ance to for­aging dur­ing con­struc­tion would be temporary.
3. Angus Coun­cil Coun­tryside Officer states they have no objec­tion to the applic­a­tion and agree with the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­it­ies Land­scape Advisors com­ments (see below).
4. Angus Coun­cil Roads Depart­ment has no objec­tion to the application.
5. CNPA Land­scape Officer states the track would cross and run along the steep side slopes of Glen Clova. It would be loc­ated largely with­in exist­ing wood­land, although it would cross some open patches and cor­ridors. They recom­mend mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures for land­scape and visu­al effects includ­ing min­im­ising the width of the track, ditch and cor­ridor of cleared trees and restor­ing and repla­cing turves on embank­ment slopes along the track and at the bor­row pit where these are unlikely to nat­ur­ally regen­er­ate and/​or would be sub­ject to erosion by sur­face water. With such mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures incor­por­ated any effects are not con­sidered likely to be significant.
6. CNPA Eco­logy Officer notes the main con­cern relat­ing to the applic­a­tion is the poten­tial impact on Wild­cat which is a European Pro­tec­ted Spe­cies. The site also falls with­in one of the Scot­tish Wild­cat Pri­or­ity Area (WPA). Spe­cies pro­tec­tion plans are required for wild­cat, evid­ence of otter, pine marten and red squirrel.
7. Kirriemuir Land­ward East Com­munity Coun­cil offered no com­ment on the application.

REP­RES­ENT­A­TIONS

1. One rep­res­ent­a­tion has been received which focuses on ensur­ing wild­life implic­a­tions of the track are taken into account par­tic­u­larly wild­cat and otter, request­ing that any work is under­taken out­with the breed­ing sea­son for these spe­cies. It also quer­ies the track width and gradients.

APPRAIS­AL

Prin­ciple

1. This Pri­or Approv­al applic­a­tion is for the con­struc­tion of a new track and upgrade of exist­ing track with­in the Cad­dam woods on the Glen Clova estate.

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 7 22/05/2020

The pur­pose for the track is to thin the sur­round­ing wood­land as part of the estate’s wood­land man­age­ment plan. As a forestry related private way, the devel­op­ment has a per­mit­ted devel­op­ment right and accept­ab­il­ity in prin­ciple that must be con­firmed through pri­or noti­fic­a­tion or pri­or approval.

Envir­on­ment­al Issues

1. Policy 4: Nat­ur­al Her­it­age of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2015 is inten­ded to con­serve and enhance the out­stand­ing nat­ur­al her­it­age of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park. A con­di­tion requir­ing a site-spe­cif­ic con­struc­tion meth­od state­ment will ensure that neces­sary meas­ures are taken to avoid impacts on water qual­ity and fresh water pearl mus­sels in the River South Esk SAC. The track route has been mod­i­fied dur­ing the applic­a­tion to avoid dir­ect con­flict with wild­cat and a con­di­tion restrict­ing the peri­od of con­struc­tion will avoid dis­turb­ance dur­ing breed­ing sea­sons of both wild­cat and otter. Fur­ther spe­cies pro­tec­tion plans are required for wild­cat, otter, pine marten and red squir­rel to ensure sig­ni­fic­ant harm is avoided. These too can be secured through con­di­tion. With appro­pri­ate con­di­tions the pro­pos­al will com­ply with Policy 4: Nat­ur­al Her­it­age of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan.
2. Policy 5: Land­scape of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2015 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 devel­op­ments. The new and upgraded tracks will be vis­ible from sur­round­ing view­points but will also be seen in the con­text of and partly screened by the forestry itself. With an appro­pri­ate mit­ig­a­tion meas­ure included in the site-spe­cif­ic con­struc­tion meth­od state­ment, the effects are not con­sidered to be sig­ni­fic­ant. This will ensure the pro­pos­al com­plies with Policy 5: Land­scape of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2015.
3. Policy 10: Resources of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2015 seeks to ensure the qual­ity of the water envir­on­ment and pro­tect the eco­lo­gic­al status of water bod­ies. It includes a pre­sump­tion against cul­vert­ing of water courses and unne­ces­sary engin­eer­ing works in the water envir­on­ment. How­ever, cul­verts are a stand­ard tech­nique in track con­struc­tion and are also con­trolled by SEPA licen­cing. While the use of cul­verts is cost effect­ive, they can also avoid more intrus­ive engin­eer­ing works required to bridge water courses. With the site spe­cif­ic con­struc­tion meth­od state­ment to ensure no impacts on water qual­ity, the pro­pos­al will com­ply with Policy 10: Resources of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2015.

CON­CLU­SION

1. It is con­sidered that with appro­pri­ate con­di­tions attached to pri­or approv­al of the new and upgraded forestry tracks in this pro­pos­al, it will fully com­ply with the rel­ev­ant policies of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2015.

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 7 22/05/2020

RECOM­MEND­A­TION

That Mem­bers of the Com­mit­tee sup­port a recom­mend­a­tion to approve the Pri­or Approv­al for forestry-related con­struc­tion works – form­a­tion of new access track and upgrad­ing of exist­ing tracks at Cad­dam Plant­a­tion Glen Clova 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. No work shall com­mence on site until a site spe­cif­ic Con­struc­tion Meth­od State­ment has been sub­mit­ted to and approved in writ­ing by the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity act­ing as plan­ning author­ity. The CMS shall include the fol­low­ing details; a) Con­firm­a­tion of the work­ing cor­ridor; b) Details of each stage of the track con­struc­tion; c) Details of the fin­ished sur­face of the track demon­strat­ing that the track will be restric­ted to 3.5m in width. d) Details of pol­lu­tion pre­ven­tion meas­ures includ­ing loc­a­tion of refuel­ling sites, silt fen­cing and silt traps; e) Details of how turfs will be cut and replaced, includ­ing meas­ures to ensure steep cut side faces regen­er­ate suc­cess­fully. There­after the devel­op­ment shall be imple­men­ted in accord­ance with those approved details.

Reas­on: To min­im­ise the land­scape and visu­al impacts of the devel­op­ment, avoid adverse effects on the integ­rity of the River South Esk SAC, and min­im­ise dam­age to hab­it­ats adja­cent to the devel­op­ment in accord­ance with Policy 4 Nat­ur­al Her­it­age, Policy 5 Land­scape and Policy 10 Resources of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2015.

1. No work shall com­mence on site until spe­cies pro­tec­tion plans for Wild­cat, Otter, Pine Marten and Red Squir­rel have been sub­mit­ted to and approved in writ­ing by the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity act­ing as plan­ning author­ity. The Spe­cies Pro­tec­tion Plans shall include detail of any neces­sary pre-com­mence­ment surveys. There­after the devel­op­ment shall be imple­men­ted in accord­ance with those approved details.

Reas­on: To avoid adverse effects on pro­tec­ted spe­cies in accord­ance with Policy 4: Nat­ur­al Her­it­age of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2015.

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 7 22/05/2020

1. There shall be no work under­taken between April and July (Inclus­ive) the wild­cat and otter breed­ing seasons.

Reas­on: To avoid dis­turb­ance of Wild­cat and Otter and in accord­ance with Policy 4 Nat­ur­al Her­it­age, of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2015.

Inform­at­ives

1. The per­son under­tak­ing the devel­op­ment is required to give the Plan­ning Author­ity pri­or writ­ten noti­fic­a­tion of the date on which it is inten­ded to com­mence the devel­op­ment. Attached to this decision notice is a Notice of Ini­ti­ation of Devel­op­ment for com­ple­tion and sub­mis­sion. Sub­mis­sion of this inform­a­tion assists the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Mon­it­or­ing and Enforce­ment Officer in mon­it­or­ing act­ive work with­in the area to ensure com­pli­ance with the approved details and to identi­fy and cor­rect any poten­tial prob­lems, as they arise, rather than later when it may be more dif­fi­cult and more costly to rec­ti­fy. Fail­ure to give notice would con­sti­tute a breach of plan­ning con­trol which may res­ult in enforce­ment action being taken.
2. Fol­low­ing com­ple­tion of the devel­op­ment, a noti­fic­a­tion of the com­ple­tion shall, as soon as prac­tic­able, be giv­en to the Plan­ning Author­ity. Attached to this decision notice is a Notice of Com­ple­tion of Devel­op­ment for com­ple­tion and sub­mis­sion. Sub­mis­sion of this form will assist the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Mon­it­or­ing and Enforce­ment Officer in mak­ing a final inspec­tion and check­ing com­pli­ance with the approved draw­ings and con­di­tions. If the devel­op­ment hereby approved is to be car­ried out in phases, then a notice of com­ple­tion should be sub­mit­ted at the com­ple­tion of each phase.

The map on the first page of this report has been pro­duced to aid in the stat­utory pro­cess of deal­ing with plan­ning applic­a­tions. The map is to help identi­fy the site and its sur­round­ings and to aid Plan­ning Officers, Com­mit­tee Mem­bers and the Pub­lic in the determ­in­a­tion of the pro­pos­al. Maps shown in the Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Report can only be used for the pur­poses of the Plan­ning Com­mit­tee. Any oth­er use risks infringing Crown Copy­right and may lead to pro­sec­u­tion or civil pro­ceed­ings. Maps pro­duced with­in this Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Report can only be repro­duced with the express per­mis­sion of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity and oth­er Copy­right hold­ers. This per­mis­sion must be gran­ted in advance.