Item9Appendix2SupportingInfo20230189DETPriorApprovalLaggan

Cairngorms Item 9 Appendix 2 11 August 2023 Nation­al Park Author­ity Ügh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Agenda item 9

Appendix 2

2023/0189/DET

Sup­port­ing information

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SCOT­TISH WOOD­LANDS Forest track spe­cific­a­tion for ATV/​Argo forest tracks in Coul estate 14/04/23

Require­ment: The fol­low­ing spe­cific­a­tion is for access tracks for the pur­pose of fire access, stalk­ing, and wood­land main­ten­ance of the new wood­land cre­ation which will be planted in May 2023.

Design speed: less than 25 km/​h or 15 mph.

Design load­ing: 7 tonnes.

Track width: Max­im­um 2.0m run­ning width, widened on inside of bends to suit radius.

Track align­ment: Tracks shall fit into the land­scape and be con­struc­ted to a uni­form hori­zont­al and lon­git­ud­in­al pro­file. They shall avoid unstable ground and any fea­tures that require preserving.

Max­im­um gradi­ent: Up to 25%.

Earth­works: Earth­works will be rein­stated and land­scaped. Unsuit­able mater­i­als will be stripped and side cast where no risk to water qual­ity exists. The form­a­tion shall be shaped to keep it free of stand­ing water. Depth of track will be no more than 80cm.

Cut­tings: Cut­ting slopes will be stable and free of over­hangs and loose rock. The max­im­um slope will be 30% for slopes up to 2m high. For slopes more than 2m high, the max­im­um slope will be 1 in 2(50%) for fine grained soils, 1 in 1.5 (67%) for oth­er soils and 1 in 1 for rock slopes.

Drains and ditches: A track­side ditch shall be provided on the uphill side of a track and on both sides where the track form­a­tion is at or below the adja­cent ground. Ditches shall have a depth of not less that 150mm below the form­a­tion edge and a lon­git­ud­in­al gradi­ent of not less than 2%. Ditches and drains shall not lead dir­ectly into water­courses. Catch­pits, set­tle­ment ponds and fil­ters will be provided in and adja­cent to the drains and cul­verts to avoid pol­lu­tion and sed­i­ment­a­tion of watercourses.

Cul­verts: All pipes shall be bed­ded, laid, sur­roun­ded, and back­filled. Laid in nat­ur­al ground the bed of ori­gin­al water­course where applic­able. Inlets to be provided with erosion pro­tec­tion. Out­falls will be so con­struc­ted as to elim­in­ate pos­sible erosion. Ditch relief cul­verts will be spaced as required with a max­im­um spa­cing of 200m. Where appro­pri­ate, cul­verts to be designed for 1 in 50-year storm.

Cross slope (cam­ber or cross­fall): The sur­face shall be cambered with 5% falls from the crown, or with a 5% cross­fall slop­ing inwards on steep slide slopes.

Water Guide­less: Forests and Water Guidelines, 4^th Edi­tion will be adhered to. Account will also be taken of any spe­cial require­ments of Scot­tish Envir­on­ment­al Pro­tec­tion Agency. The design, rout­ing and means of con­struc­tion of the private way shall accord with the prin­ciples out­lined in the UK Forestry Stand­ard guidelines, the Tim­ber Trans­port For­ums’ design and use of the struc­tur­al pave­ment of unsealed roads and, in terms of envir­on­ment­al impacts, SNH’s Con­struc­ted Tracks in the Scot­tish Uplands.

Fuel spillage: A writ­ten pro­ced­ure will be in place and agreed pri­or to work starting.

Signs: The site will be adequately signed. These will be provided by the Forest Manager.

Quarrying/​Construction mater­i­als: The meth­od of work­ing (and re-instate­ment where applic­able) of bor­row pits and quar­ries will be in accord­ance with the Quar­ries Reg­u­la­tion 1999. Any bor­row pits which are util­ised will be rein­stated and land­scaped at the end of the oper­a­tion. Mater­i­al will not be brought in from else­where. Only mater­i­al from the site will be used for the ATV track construction.