Item9AA20230189DETLagganTrackPriorApprovalCommitteeReport

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 9 11/08/2023

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHORITY

DEVEL­OP­MENT PROPOSED:

Pri­or approv­al for forestry related build­ing works (non-res­id­en­tial) at Land At Crath­ie Lodge Lag­gan Newtonmore

REF­ER­ENCE: 2023/0189/DET APPLIC­ANT: Mr Kev­in Fletch­er DATE CALLED-IN: 1 May 2023 RECOM­MEND­A­TION: Approve Sub­ject to Con­di­tions CASE OFFICER: Ed Swales Mon­it­or­ing and Enforce­ment Officer

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CNPA Plan­ning Committee

Applic­a­tion Site

0 65 130 260 Meters

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Ger­gask Craig

Ger­gas

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Cre­agan a’ Chait

Blar­gie

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Crown copy­right and data­base rights 2023. Ord­nance Sur­vey Licence num­ber 100040965

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 9 11/08/2023

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 9 09/06/2023

SITE DESCRIP­TION, PRO­POS­AL AND HISTORY

Site Descrip­tion

1. The applic­a­tion site is approx­im­ately 1km west of Lag­gan vil­lage centre, and the fur­thest most west­ern end of the pro­posed tracks is 3km to the west of the vil­lage centre. The site is accessed off a c‑road via the A86.

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=RTRPPMSIO CP00

Title	Draw­ing Num­ber	Date on Plan*	Date Received
PLANS
Plan — Loc­a­tion 3		06/06/23	26/05/23
Plan — Cross Section			27/04/23
Plan — Typ­ic­al Road Cross — Sec­tion­al Details			27/04/23
SUP­PORT­ING INFORMATION
Oth­er — Forest track specification		14/04/23	27/04/23

*Where no spe­cif­ic day of month has been provided on the plan, the sys­tem defaults to the 1^st of the month.

1. The pro­pos­al is for pri­or approv­al, rather than a full plan­ning applic­a­tion and is for the cre­ation of an ATV/​Argo track meas­ur­ing up to 2m in width, for the pur­pose of forestry works. The pro­posed track meas­ures 750m in length. A full track con­struc­tion spe­cific­a­tion has been sub­mit­ted detail­ing the meth­ods of con­struc­tion of the track.

2. The wood­land plant­ing is being under­taken by the estate without fund­ing from Scot­tish Forestry and has started.

His­tory

1. There is no rel­ev­ant or recent his­tory of plan­ning applic­a­tions on the estate.

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 9 09/06/2023

Hab­it­ats Reg­u­la­tions Appraisal

1. A Hab­it­ats Reg­u­la­tions Apprais­al [HRA] has been under­taken to con­sider the poten­tial effects of the pro­pos­al on the River Spey Spe­cial Area of Con­ser­va­tion. A copy of the HRA can be found at Appendix 3. The pro­posed track will be con­struc­ted approx­im­ately 30m from the nearest water­course, Allt Granda, which con­nects to the River Spey through trib­u­tar­ies and drain­age chan­nels. The HRA con­cludes that there will not be an adverse effect on site integ­rity for the River Spey SAC provided a con­di­tion is included which avoids pol­lu­tion enter­ing the the Allt Granda and by exten­sion the River Spey SAC and neg­at­ively impact­ing upon the qual­i­fy­ing features.

DEVEL­OP­MENT PLAN CON­TEXT Policies

Nation­al Policy	Nation­al Plan­ning Frame­work 4 (NPF4) Scot­land 2045
POLICY 3	Biod­iversity
POLICY 4	Nat­ur­al Places
POLICY 6	Forestry, Wood­land and Trees
Stra­tegic Policy	Cairngorms Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan 2022 – 2027
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 1	NEW HOUS­ING DEVELOPMENT
POLICY 2	SUP­PORT­ING ECO­NOM­IC GROWTH
POLICY 3	DESIGN AND PLACEMAKING	X
POLICY 4	NAT­UR­AL HERITAGE	X
POLICY 5	LAND­SCAPE	X
POLICY 6	THE SIT­ING AND DEISGN 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 OBLIG­A­TIONS

1. All new devel­op­ment pro­pos­als require to be assessed in rela­tion to policies con­tained in the adop­ted Devel­op­ment Plan which com­prises Nation­al Plan­ning Frame­work 4 (NPF4) and the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021. The full word­ing of policies can be found at:

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 9 09/06/2023

https://www.gov.scot/publications/national-planning-framework- 4/​documents/​

and 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​-​2021- web.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 1	Hous­ing Sup­ple­ment­ary Guidance
Policy 2	Sup­port­ing Eco­nom­ic Growth Non-Statutory
Guid­ance
Policy 3	Design and Place­mak­ing Non-Stat­utory Guidance	X
Policy 4	Nat­ur­al Her­it­age Non-Stat­utory Guidance	X
Policy 5	Land­scape Non-Stat­utory Guidance	X
Policy 7	Renew­able Energy Non-Stat­utory Guidance
Policy 8	Open Space, Sport and Recre­ation Non-Statutory
Guid­ance
Policy 9	Cul­tur­al Her­it­age Non-Stat­utory Guidance
Policy 10	Resources Non-Stat­utory Guidance
Policy 11	Developer Oblig­a­tions Sup­ple­ment­ary Guidance

CON­SULTA­TIONS Sum­mary of the main issues raised by consultees

1. NatureScot are sat­is­fied with the con­clu­sions of the HRA which con­cludes that there be no effect on the site integ­rity of the River Spey SAC.

2. CNPA Eco­logy Officer states there is insuf­fi­cient inform­a­tion sub­mit­ted to determ­ine the extent on pro­tec­ted spe­cies and breed­ing birds there­fore recom­mend the inclu­sion of suit­ably worded con­di­tions requir­ing sur­veys to be sub­mit­ted pri­or to the com­mence­ment of development.

3. Lag­gan Com­munity Coun­cil provided com­ments that were neither in favour nor opposed to the proposal.

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 9 09/06/2023

REP­RES­ENT­A­TIONS

1. The applic­a­tion was advert­ised when first sub­mit­ted. No let­ters of pub­lic rep­res­ent­a­tion have been received.

APPRAIS­AL

1. The prin­ciple of Pri­or Approv­al for the track in this loc­a­tion is accept­able due to its con­nec­tion to a pro­posed wood­land area as well as hav­ing an estab­lished con­nec­tion from exist­ing infrastructure.

2. Sub­ject to suit­ably worded con­di­tions as well as com­pli­ance with the policies with­in the Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan and NPF4, the pro­pos­al for an ATV track is acceptable.

Prin­ciple

1. Policy 4: Nat­ur­al Places of NPF4 seeks to pro­tect and enhance nat­ur­al her­it­age while Policy 3: Design and Place­mak­ing of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021 states that all devel­op­ment pro­pos­als must also be designed to min­im­ise the effects of the devel­op­ment on cli­mate change in terms of sit­ing and construction.

2. The track is deemed to be with­in the scope of the Per­mit­ted Devel­op­ment Legis­la­tion as it is to be formed more than 20m off an exist­ing road, as with Pri­or Noti­fic­a­tions the first 20m access off the road is not included. An updated loc­a­tion plan has been sub­mit­ted which shows the pro­posed ATV track being formed off the exist­ing Blar­gie Farm hard­stand­ing, run­ning along a driv­en route towards the wood­land enclos­ure. The track then enters the enclos­ure and exits to run along­side the fence line to the west. The track is required for the main­ten­ance and com­ple­tion of the wood­land plant­ing with­in this enclosure.

3. On this basis, the pro­pos­al for the ATV track is con­sidered to accord with Policy 4 of NPF4 and Policy 3: Design and Place­mak­ing of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021.

Eco­logy Issues

1. Policy 3: Biod­iversity of NPF4 plays a crit­ic­al role in ensur­ing that devel­op­ment will secure pos­it­ive effects for biod­iversity while Policy 4: Nat­ur­al Places pro­tects and enhances nat­ur­al her­it­age. 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.

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 9 09/06/2023

1. The applic­a­tion has not included details of any sur­veys that have been under­taken con­firm­ing the pres­ence of pro­tec­ted spe­cies or wheth­er there are breed­ing birds with­in the track area. As such a con­di­tion is recom­men­ded requir­ing a breed­ing bird sur­vey and pro­tec­ted spe­cies sur­vey to be sub­mit­ted imme­di­ately pri­or to the com­mence­ment of con­struc­tion. The HRA (attached at Appendix 3) con­cludes that stand­ard pol­lu­tion pre­ven­tion meas­ures must be secured through a plan­ning condition.

2. The inclu­sion of the nat­ive wood­land plant­ing scheme provides biod­iversity gains. Addi­tion­ally, the sub­mis­sion of the required sur­veys will ensure the pro­pos­al com­plies with Policies 3 and 4 of NPF4 and Policy 4 of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021.

Land­scape Issues

1. Policy 6: Forestry, wood­land and trees of NPF4 aims to pro­tect and expand forests, wood­land and trees while 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. Although there will be some lim­ited land­scape and visu­al impacts in the short term, the over­all impact is con­sidered lim­ited in extent and will not have sig­ni­fic­ant adverse effects on the spe­cial land­scape qual­it­ies of the Nation­al Park. The pro­pos­al is there­fore con­sidered to com­ply with and Policy 6 of NPF4 and Policy 5 of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021.

CON­CLU­SION

1. While there is con­cern that the track will be used for sport­ing pur­poses the wood­land enclos­ure and plant­ing with­in the enclos­ure ensures that the ini­tial pur­pose of the track is for the cre­ation of a wood­land scheme and there­fore in line with the prin­ciple of Per­mit­ted Development.

2. Sub­ject to the recom­men­ded con­di­tions the pro­posed devel­op­ment is con­sidered to com­ply with the policies con­tained with­in NPF4 and the adop­ted Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan and approv­al is there­fore recommended.

RECOM­MEND­A­TION

That Mem­bers of the Com­mit­tee sup­port a recom­mend­a­tion to APPROVE the Pri­or Approv­al for forestry related build­ing works (non-res­id­en­tial) at Land At Crath­ie Lodge Lag­gan sub­ject to the fol­low­ing conditions:

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 9 09/06/2023

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

Con­di­tions

1 No devel­op­ment shall com­mence until a Con­struc­tion Envir­on­ment Man­age­ment Plan (CEMP) has been sub­mit­ted to and approved in writ­ing by the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity act­ing as Plan­ning Author­ity. The CEMP shall include but not be lim­ited to: a) The iden­ti­fic­a­tion of a 10m buf­fer from water­courses with­in which no con­struc­tion shall be undertaken; b) A pol­lu­tion pre­ven­tion plan demon­strat­ing that there will be no pol­lu­tion or sed­i­ment­a­tion of water courses dur­ing construction; c) Details of pre-con­struc­tion sur­veys for pro­tec­ted spe­cies and any asso­ci­ated Spe­cies Pro­tec­tion Plan with stand­ard mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures to pre­vent harm to pro­tec­ted spe­cies that might enter the site dur­ing construction; d) Bird pro­tec­tion plan to ensure no dis­turb­ance of birds dur­ing the bird breed­ing sea­son. This plan shall include stand­ard mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures dur­ing construction.

There­after the devel­op­ment shall be imple­men­ted in accord­ance with the approved CEMP.

Reas­on: To ensure that there is no effect on the integ­rity of the River Spey SAC, or to pro­tec­ted spe­cies and breed­ing birds in accord­ance with Policies 3: Biod­iversity and 4: Nat­ur­al Places of NPF4 and with Policy 4: Nat­ur­al Her­it­age of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021.

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Inform­at­ive CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Item 9 09/06/2023

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.

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.

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