Item9AACorrieCuaichReport20190286DET

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Agenda Item 9 15/11/2019

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHORITY

DEVEL­OP­MENT PROPOSED: Works to Cor­rie Cuaich track (ret­ro­spect­ive) at Phones Lodge, New­ton­more, High­land, PH20 1BE

REF­ER­ENCE: 2019/0286/DET

APPLIC­ANT: Phones Estate

DATE CALLED-IN: 17 Septem­ber 2019

RECOM­MEND­A­TION: Approve sub­ject to conditions

CASE OFFICER: Ed Swales Mon­it­or­ing and Enforce­ment Officer

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Agenda Item 9 15/11/2019

SITE DESCRIP­TION, PRO­POS­AL AND HISTORY

Site Descrip­tion

1. The site is accessed oppos­ite the Cuaich cot­tages on the A9, 2 miles north of Dal­whin­nie. From there an estate tracks heads east towards Loch Cuaich at the foot of the mun­ro Meall Chuaich.

2. The resur­faced track starts at the loch head­ing east below Meall Chuaich for around a mile and a half.

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​=​P​X​K​G​4​W​S​I​0CH00

Title	Draw­ing Num­ber	Date on Plan*	Date Received
Spe­cific­a­tions — Sup­port­ing Statement		01/05/19	16/09/19
Loc­a­tion Plan			16/09/19
Loc­a­tion Plan			16/09/19
Loc­a­tion Plan			16/09/19
Sec­tions — Cul­vert Cross Section		14/08/19	16/09/19
Sec­tions — Cross Section		31/07/19	16/09/19
Loc­a­tion Plan — Show­ing Water Crossings		31/07/19	16/09/19

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

1. The track has been widened from a 2 metre wide land rover track to a track around 3.5 metre to 4 metres in width with improved drain­age along its entirety as such the applic­a­tion is ret­ro­spect­ive. The track is used for mul­tiple estate purposes.

His­tory

1. The upgrade of the track was spot­ted through routine mon­it­or­ing of track devel­op­ment on estates across the park.

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 are marked with a cross

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Agenda Item 9 15/11/2019

POLICY 1	NEW HOUS­ING DEVELOPMENT
POLICY 2	SUP­PORT­ING ECO­NOM­IC GROWTH
POLICY 3	SUS­TAIN­ABLE DESIGN	X
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
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/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 1	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

Sum­mary of the main issues raised by Consultees

1. CNPA Con­ser­va­tion Officer states the track is extend­ing into a rel­at­ively wild area away from the major­ity of oth­er estate infra­struc­ture. How­ever the pres­ence of the estates own hydro scheme as well as the SSE sys­tem of build­ing, dams and con­crete water run is sig­ni­fic­ant fur­ther down the glen.

2. The track has been con­struc­ted unsym­path­et­ic­ally espe­cially in the high­er part of the track and where there is a sig­ni­fic­ant cross gradi­ent. Here mater­i­al has been allowed to cas­cade down slope as well as excav­ated slope sec­tions being steep. Over­all the track is wider than is neces­sary for typ­ic­al estate man­age­ment. There are areas where

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Agenda Item 9 15/11/2019

grass is begin­ning to regen­er­ate on the edges how­ever at this alti­tude it will be slow to recov­er. Cut areas have fre­quently been left bare and faces are too steep to recov­er. The drain­age ditch is left bare in places with no turf replace­ment. The over­all effect is of a rough track poorly designed and imple­men­ted. How­ever mit­ig­a­tion is recom­men­ded through the use of conditions.

1. Com­munity Coun­cil has made no com­ment in regard to this application.

REP­RES­ENT­A­TIONS

1. One rep­res­ent­a­tion has been received stat­ing that the unsightly nature of the track would be sig­ni­fic­antly reduced if con­di­tions were required to be com­plied with should the applic­a­tion be approved. Those con­di­tions should focus on a veget­a­tion strip along the centre of the track, and the track being nar­rowed to no more than 3m in width.

APPRAIS­AL

1. The track has been upgraded from a form­al land rover track, pre­vi­ously around 2m in width to the cur­rent width of between 3.5m and 4m, along its route with drain­age installed through­out as well. While the works were under­taken without any form of per­mis­sion, the prin­ciple of this upgrade is accept­able sub­ject to com­pli­ance with the sug­ges­ted plan­ning con­di­tion and as such will ensure the pro­pos­al com­plies with the rel­ev­ant policies with­in the Cairngorms Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2015.

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. While no mit­ig­a­tion has been pro­posed through the inform­a­tion sub­mit­ted with the applic­a­tion, it is recom­men­ded that seed­ing occurs along the entirety of the track, includ­ing the edges and centre line. Any bare sec­tions of drain­age and cut faces along the route should be turfed using a turf-rob­bing tech­nique. This is sup­por­ted by the land­scape advisors com­ments and as such 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. A meth­od state­ment cov­er­ing ground pre­par­a­tion and seed sow­ing also detail­ing the turf rob­bing and place­ment is required to ensure the pro­pos­al com­plies with Policy 4: Nat­ur­al Her­it­age of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2015.

3. 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. As the pro­pos­al is ret­ro­spect­ive a con­di­tion requir­ing the sub­mis­sion of a meth­od state­ment accom­pan­ied by a plan

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Agenda Item 9 15/11/2019

show­ing the loc­a­tions of the sug­ges­ted mit­ig­a­tion above is required to ensure the devel­op­ment com­plies with Policy 3: Sus­tain­able Design of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2015.

CON­CLU­SION

1. The track is of reas­on­able con­struc­tion with sec­tions already green­ing over how­ever the bare faces along the edges and drain­age mean a con­di­tion requir­ing mit­ig­a­tion is neces­sary to 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 Approve the works to the Cor­rie Cuaich track (ret­ro­spect­ive) at Phones Lodge New­ton­more High­land PH20 1BE 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. With­in 6 months on the date of this decision a detailed mit­ig­a­tion meth­od state­ment shall be sub­mit­ted to and approved in writ­ing by the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity act­ing as plan­ning author­ity. This state­ment shall include details of all the seed­ing, how the turf rob­bing will be under­taken as well as a plan show­ing where this mit­ig­a­tion will take place.

There­after and with­in 12 months of the date of this decision, the works will be under­taken and com­pleted in their entirety in accord­ance with the approved plans.

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.

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.

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CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Agenda Item 9 15/11/2019

1. 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.