Item7Appendix4RepresentationGeneral20220023DETHillTracksCairngorm

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Agenda Item 7 Appendix 4 22/04/2022

AGENDA ITEM 7

APPENDIX 4

2022/0023/DET

REP­RES­ENT­A­TION GENERAL

BSCG info From:BSCG info Sent:Mon, 21 Feb 2022 23:31:30 +0000 To:Edward Swales Subject:2022/0023/DET Comment

Badenoch & Strath­spey Con­ser­va­tion Group Fiod­hag, Nethy­bridge, Inverness-shire PH25 3DJ

Scot­tishChar­ity No. SC003846 Email info@​bscg.​org.​uk Web­site bscg​.org​.uk/

edwardswales@​cairngorms.​co.​uk

21 Feb­ru­ary 2022

Dear Ed Swales

2022/0023/DET | Form­a­tion of access hill tracks adja­cent to (1) Base Sta­tion and (2) Shiel­ing | Land 1200M Né Of Coire Cas Car Park Cairngorm Moun­tain Glen­more Aviemore

BSCG is com­ment­ing on this pro­pos­al but not object­ing to it.

We are con­cerned that the CNPA should fully recog­nise the sens­it­iv­it­ies of the ground with­in the red line bound­ar­ies of this applic­a­tion and the sur­round­ing area. This area should be treated as likely to be sup­port­ing sig­ni­fic­ant biod­iversity interest. It is import­ant to recog­nise that this devel­op­ment will cause addi­tion­al adverse impacts to the sites. We urge that appro­pri­ate meas­ures are taken to both reduce these and strictly min­im­ise hab­it­at dam­age, and to ensure that best prac­tice is achieved dur­ing con­struc­tion and operation.

It is of con­cern that spe­cif­ic on-site eco­lo­gic­al sur­veys do not appear to have beenun­der­taken for this applic­a­tion. In view of the nature emer­gency, we find this par­tic­u­larly dis­ap­point­ing. Pre­vi­ous sur­veys, and oth­er records, indic­ate that the Cas area has high biod­iversity interest.

The pro­pos­al site is close to the Cairngorm Import­ant Plant Area and there are likely to be spe­cies of value with­in the site includ­ing mosses, liv­er­worts, lichens and fungi. A nation­ally rare lichen was recor­ded in the sur­vey asso­ci­ated with the 2018 applic­a­tion for an arti­fi­cial ski slope. There are sens­it­ive hab­it­ats con­trib­ut­ing tosup­port­ing birds includ­ing ring ouzel (UK red list of birds of con­ser­va­tion con­cern). Inver­teb­rates recor­ded dur­ing the sur­vey asso­ci­ated with the arti­fi­cial skislope included 6 nation­ally scarce spe­cies of fly asso­ci­ated with wet flushes. And the pro­pos­al site is not far from the loc­a­tion where a spring­tail new to Bri­tain was rel­at­ively recently dis­covered, which as far as we know is still only known in Bri­tain from this single location.

Yours sin­cerely

Gus Jones Convener