Item7Appendix4CGeneral20210090DETCampervanSiteNethy

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Agenda Item 7 Appendix 4c 25/02/2022

AGENDA ITEM 7

APPENDIX 4C

2021/0090/DET

PUB­LIC REP­RES­ENT­A­TIONS- GEN­ER­AL COMMENTS

2021/0090/DET

We under­stand and appre­ci­ate the need for camper­van pro­vi­sion across High­land, par­tic­u­larly at the cur­rent time. We also appre­ci­ate the small scale nature of the devel­op­ment. How­ever we would be grate­ful if the fol­low­ing comments/​observations could be taken into account when this applic­a­tion is considered:

The site will increase light pol­lu­tion from vehicle head­lights enter­ing and leav­ing the site. Whilst there is no men­tion of provid­ing light­ing to the site, it is likely that this will be installed. The nature of any light­ing should be con­sidered to min­im­ise light pol­lu­tion. This could also be mit­ig­ated by addi­tion­al screening/​planting to the north and west sides of the site. This would also serve to soften the appear­ance of the devel­op­ment from the prop­er­ties at the Garlyne which are with­in line of sight.

As the nearest prop­erty to the pro­posed site and part of a cluster of 4 prop­er­ties already adversely impacted by noise from a large self cater­ing prop­erty, noise pol­lu­tion is of con­cern. Noise travels sig­ni­fic­ant dis­tances at night in quiet areas such as ours. The screen­ing described above would undoubtedly assist, but impos­ing a ​‘quiet’ time onsite after which time out­door gath­er­ings would not be per­mit­ted would also be help­ful. The pro­pos­al states that the applic­a­tion is only for camper­vans where people are largely con­tained with­in their vehicles and that there will even­tu­ally be 24hr super­vi­sion of the site once the own­ers build their new home. How­ever build­ing on this home has not begun. We would there­fore appre­ci­ate con­firm­a­tion that no camp­ing will be allowed due to the risk of large gatherings.

The site will lead to increased traffic flow and more ped­es­tri­ans on the C1124, which has a 60mph lim­it, as people drive to and from, and walk back and forth to the vil­lage. This is a scen­ic tour­ist route which is nar­row with ​‘pinch points’, eroded passing places and fre­quent farm vehicles, where it is dif­fi­cult for lar­ger vehicles to pass. The centre of the vil­lage is some con­sid­er­able dis­tance from the site. There are presently no access­ible paths and ped­es­tri­ans are required to walk on the road, step­ping to the side when vehicles approach. A safe off road path­way could be provided part of the way along the field on the south side of the road, from the pro­posed site to the start of the woods near to the Garlyne tracks which would enable guests to at least safely walk that part of the route.

As stated, the small scale nature of the devel­op­ment is appre­ci­ated, as is its sea­son­al­ity (although unspe­cified). Cla­ri­fic­a­tion would be appre­ci­ated regard­ing oper­at­ing peri­ods. There is also a con­cern that if the devel­op­ment goes ahead, a pre­ced­ent has been set for this site, and that expan­sion will fol­low in future years. We have con­cern for the impact upon wild­life in adja­cent wood­land eg. Caper­cail­lie, pos­sibly wild­cat, roe deer and hares. Con­firm­a­tion that any future expan­sion of the site or increase in its oper­at­ing peri­od would need addi­tion­al plan­ning approv­al would be greatly appre­ci­ated. Finally we like to high­light that the sit­ing of the camper­van park will undoubtedly attract more vis­it­ors with their camper­vans to the vil­lage. The num­ber of sup­port­ive com­ments to this pro­pos­al show it is likely to be pop­u­lar. Many will be trav­el­ling from the A95 via Broom­hill Bridge with its weight lim­it, and oth­ers from the Boat of Garten dir­ec­tion. This will increase traffic through the centre of the vil­lage at the peak of the sum­mer by up to 12 camper­vans per day, mak­ing use of the amen­it­ies eg. Spar, butchers, café, hotel etc in a vil­lage with very lim­ited park­ing, no pub­lic car park and tight bends. Should the plan be approved we would appre­ci­ate if yourselves and the developer could mit­ig­ate these issues and provide a safe, noise and light free envir­on­ment for vis­it­ors and res­id­ents. Regards Helen Mor­ris & Paul Fair­broth­er The Garlyne Nethy Bridge PH253ED