CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Agenda Item 7 15/11/2019

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHORITY

DEVEL­OP­MENT PROPOSED:

Upgrade of exist­ing private way for forestry and agri­cul­ture use in ret­ro­spect (Track B — 2 of 2) at Upper Crag­gan, Glen­beg Road, Grant­own-on-Spey, High­land, PH26 3NT

REF­ER­ENCE: 2019/0289/DET

APPLIC­ANT: Mr Fer­gus Laing

DATE CALLED-IN: 17 Septem­ber 2019

RECOM­MEND­A­TION: Approve sub­ject to conditions

CASE OFFICER: Ed Swales, Mon­it­or­ing and Enforce­ment Officer

CNPA Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Applic­a­tion Site 0 40 80 Meters Dru­mour­ach­ie aggan Hill 389 Cairn Glen Beg B N 160 276 West­er Crag­gan Kirk­ton Upper Crag­gan Col­lects ام Invera Ho 265m Crown copy­right and data­base rights 2019. Ord­nance Sur­vey Licence num­ber 100040965 255m 2 Track CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Agenda Item 7 15/11/2019 240m

Track

230m Iss

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Agenda Item 7 15/11/2019

SITE DESCRIP­TION, PRO­POS­AL AND HISTORY

Site Descrip­tion

1. The site is accessed off the A95 one mile along the main estate road towards the Glen­beg Bunk­house. Access to the track from there crosses the Glen­beg burn through an agri­cul­tur­al field and onto the wood­land where the track lies.

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=PXO4CXSI0CH00

Title	Draw­ing Num­ber	Date on Plan*	Date Received
Spe­cific­a­tions – Supporting			16/09/19
State­ment
Spe­cific­a­tions — Con­struc­tion Details			16/09/19
For Tracks
Spe­cific­a­tions — Hori­zont­al Vertical			16/09/19
Pro­files Of Track
Spe­cific­a­tions — Road Culvert			16/09/19
Cross­ing Details
Loc­a­tion Plan		21/03/19	16/09/19
*Where no spe­cif­ic day of month has been provided on the plan, the sys­tem defaults to the 1st of the month.

1. The pro­pos­al for the resur­fa­cing of the exist­ing track is ret­ro­spect­ive with the works being car­ried out in 2018. It is claimed the works were main­ten­ance of the exist­ing track how­ever it was deemed that they were bey­ond what is con­sidered main­ten­ance and con­sti­tuted an upgrade there­fore an applic­a­tion was sought.

His­tory

1. The site is with­in an area iden­ti­fied as Semi-nat­ur­al Ancient Wood­land how­ever no trees were impacted by the recent works as they were on the exist­ing driv­en line. The stated use is for agri­cul­ture and forestry how­ever the pres­ence of pheas­ant pens sug­gests a sport­ing ele­ment to the track as well.

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 (2015)
	Those policies rel­ev­ant to the assess­ment of this application

POLICY I POLICY 2 POLICY 3 POLICY 4 POLICY 5 POLICY 6 POLICY 7 POLICY 8 POLICY 9 POLICY 10 POLICY 11 CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Agenda Item 7 15/11/2019 are marked with a cross NEW HOUS­ING DEVEL­OP­MENT SUP­PORT­ING ECO­NOM­IC GROWTH SUS­TAIN­ABLE DESIGN NAT­UR­AL HER­IT­AGE LAND­SCAPE THE SIT­ING AND DESIGN OF DIGIT­AL COM­MU­NIC­A­TIONS EQUIP­MENT RENEW­ABLE ENERGY SPORT AND RECRE­ATION CUL­TUR­AL HER­IT­AGE RESOURCES DEVELOPER CON­TRI­BU­TIONS X X X

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/LDPI5.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
Policy 2	Sup­port­ing Eco­nom­ic Growth Non-Stat­utory Guidance
Policy 3	Sus­tain­able Design Non-Stat­utory Guidance	X
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

CON­SULTA­TIONS

1. A sum­mary of the main issues raised by con­sul­tees now follows:

2. CNPA Land­scape Officer states that the track is clearly related to estate man­age­ment and is loc­ated in an area that is appro­pri­ate. It does not appear incon­gru­ous or con­trary to the loc­al char­ac­ter of the glen oth­er than as noted below. Its gen­er­al design is not excess­ive though the meth­od of con­struc­tion has been poorly imple­men­ted and the won mater­i­al is soft and so will be very prone to erosion.

3. The worst sec­tion is the newly sur­faced sec­tion to the north­w­est end of the track. Here the new mater­i­al has been placed in a raised man­ner that stands very proud of the exist­ing sur­face. It is a light col­our and seems very stark by con­trast with the rest of the area.

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Agenda Item 7 15/11/2019

1. The cross sec­tion show turf replace­ment of the track sides, drain­age ditch and a turf strip along the centre. This has not been under­taken but is required to mit­ig­ate the appear­ance of the track which is wider than neces­sary. If this is done to a good stand­ard then the appear­ance of the track will be suf­fi­ciently mitigated.

2. CNPA Eco­logy Officer states that the track has res­ul­ted in the per­man­ent loss of 0.2 Hec­tares of hab­it­at in total over the full length of the track and that the track is tak­ing up a lar­ger foot­print than neces­sary. The design for the track sub­mit­ted includes pos­it­ive meas­ures such as a cent­ral turve strip how­ever these are cur­rently not present.

REP­RES­ENT­A­TIONS

1. One rep­res­ent­a­tion has been received, focus­ing on the fin­ish­ing of the track, wish­ing to see no wider than 3m, with a cent­ral veget­ated strip and nar­rowed drain­age chan­nels. The rep­res­ent­a­tion offers con­cerns regard­ing the River Spey SAC and pol­lut­ants enter­ing this dur­ing any addi­tion­al works.

APPRAIS­AL

Prin­ciple

1. The sub­mit­ted inform­a­tion with this applic­a­tion sug­gests the main use is for both agri­cul­ture and forestry how­ever the pres­ence of feed­ing sta­tions for pheas­ants sug­gests a mixed use. This prin­ciple is accept­able, as the track is well screened with­in its wood­land and enclosed moor­land set­ting. In order to com­ply with the policies with­in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2015 con­di­tions will need to be applied to help mit­ig­ate the impact of the track.

Envir­on­ment­al issues

1. 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 track is made up of a sandy loose mater­i­al, partly through wood­land and partly through moor­land. The sec­tions through the wood­land are already rut­ted and show­ing signs of wear. The moor­land sec­tion, while of bet­ter con­struc­tion is more vis­ible due to the stark nature of the mater­i­al how­ever the pub­lic view­points of the track and its access­ib­il­ity are min­im­al. As recom­men­ded by the land­scape advisor com­pli­ance with the sub­mit­ted Sup­port­ing State­ment will ensure the pro­pos­al com­plies with Policy 5: Land­scape of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2015.

2. Policy 4: Nat­ur­al Her­it­age of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2015 states that devel­op­ment that would adversely affect the Cairngorms Nation­al Park will only be per­mit­ted where it will not adversely affect the integ­rity of the area. The inform­a­tion sub­mit­ted with the applic­a­tion states that the cent­ral strip will be seeded and drain­age improved along its length. This is required to ensure the tracks longev­ity and avoid the require­ment for fur­ther applic­a­tions. This will be secured

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Agenda Item 7 15/11/2019 through a con­di­tion requir­ing the works detailed with­in the sup­port­ing state­ment to be under­taken with­in 12 months from any approv­al and as such will ensure the pro­pos­al com­plies with Policy 4: Nat­ur­al Her­it­age of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan.

1. Policy 3: Sus­tain­able Design of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2015 requires that all devel­op­ment pro­pos­als should be designed to min­im­ise the effect of the devel­op­ment on the landscape.

2. As the pro­pos­al has ret­ro­spect­ive ele­ments con­di­tions will be added to ensure if the fur­ther works do not take place remedi­ation along the track will be con­trolled and as such enable the devel­op­ment to com­ply with Policy 3: Sus­tain­able Design of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2015.

CON­CLU­SION

1. The applic­a­tion to reg­u­lar­ise ret­ro­spect­ive works to the exist­ing track and carry out fur­ther works sub­ject to appro­pri­ate con­di­tions will ensure the pro­pos­al com­plies with all rel­ev­ant policies of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2015.

RECOM­MEND­A­TION

That Mem­bers of the Com­mit­tee sup­port a recom­mend­a­tion to upgrade exist­ing private way in ret­ro­spect at Upper Crag­gan, Glen­beg Road, Grant­own-on-Spey, High­land, PH26 3NT, for the fol­low­ing reas­ons 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. With­in 12 months of this decision, all the meas­ures detailed with­in the approved sup­port­ing state­ment shall have been imple­men­ted in full.

Reas­on: To min­im­ise the land­scape and visu­al impacts of the devel­op­ment and min­im­ise dam­age to hab­it­ats adja­cent to the devel­op­ment in accord­ance with Policies 3, 4 and 5 of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2015.

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Agenda Item 7 15/11/2019

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.