The Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) Planning Committee has approved a Development Brief for a key site in the village of Carr-Bridge and has agreed to consult on one for Aviemore.

There are a number of sites in the Cairngorms National Park Local Development Plan (LDP) where the principle of development has been established but projects have not yet come to fruition. In Aviemore, the Highland Resort site is such a location and although a previous planning permission for the area has now lapsed, it remains a site with significant development potential.

In order to provide certainty in the future for both the community and developers, the CNPA has produced a draft Development Brief for the site. This aims to guide the development of the wider Aviemore Highland Resort by providing a land use and development framework that will inform the preparation and consideration of future planning applications.

The draft Development Brief for the Aviemore Highland Resort will go out for public consultation in a few weeks time and information on how to respond to it will be publicised in due course.

Having already been through the process is the H1 site at Carr-Bridge, with a consultation on the Development Brief for that site having been carried out between November 2016 and February this year. Planning Committee members approved the final Development Brief at their meeting today (Friday 26 May).

The H1 site, at the end of the village’s Carr Road, has a long history with the site being currently allocated for housing in the LDP. However the previous two planning applications were refused by the CNPA.

David Berry, CNPA Planning Manager explained: “The aim of producing this Development Brief is to try to resolve some of the uncertainly over the H1 site. This was an important opportunity for the people of Carr-Bridge to influence how the site should be developed and we have made a number of changes to the draft document as a result of comments and concerns raised by respondents.”

Planning Committee Convener Eleanor Mackintosh said: “Communities across the National Park are being given the opportunity to help shape the future of their towns and villages through these types of consultations and later in the year we will also be looking for views on the next Local Development Plan. While in the case of Development Briefs, we can’t reconsider whether a site is suitable for development or not – that is for the LDP process – but people can influence HOW these sites are developed in the future to meet their needs of their own communities.”

To read the planning papers in full please click here.