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CAIRNGORMS NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY 
Local Plan Working Group 10/3/05: DRAFT MINUTES 


 
LOCAL PLAN WORKING GROUP 
DRAFT MINUTES OF MEETING HELD ON 
Tuesday 12th April 2005 at 3.00pm. 
in the Albert Memorial Hall, Ballater. 


PRESENT: 

Bruce Luffman 		CNPA Board 
Fiona Munro 		" (Housing Officer) 
Jean Henretty 		" (Community Liaison Co-ordinator) 
Hamish Trench 		" (Park Plan Officer) 
Norman Brockie 		" (Local Plan/Policy Officer) 
Gavin Miles 		" (Local Plan/Policy Officer) 
David Bale 	SNH 
Nicola Abrams 	SEPA 
Miff Tuck 	SRPBA 
Kate Adamson 	Association of Cairngorms Community Councils 
Bill Ashcroft 	Aberdeenshire Council Local Plan 
Jeffrey Kenyon 	Aberdeenshire Council NEST Structure Plan Team 


AGENDA: 

1. N.Brockie welcomed those present and offered introductions; Jeffrey Kenyon was 
welcomed as the new Aberdeenshire rep (Structure Plan team). 


APOLOGIES: 

2. Apologies were offered for: Gillian Buchanan, Aberdeenshire Council; Martin Wanless, 
Moray Council; Duncan Bryden, Douglas Glass, Basil Dunlop & Sue Walker, CNPA 
Board; Anna Barton, Community Liaison Co-ordinator. 


MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING: 

3. Were approved. 


MATTERS ARISING FROM PREVIOUS MINUTES: 

4. Norman explained that the planners hoped to send draft policies out to consultees as 
they were written. There was some discussion over who they should go to as they are 
in early draft stages. 

5. David Bale asked whether a breakdown of the consultees proforma responses could be 
provided. 

6. Kate Adamson asked about the timeline for consultation for the preliminary draft and 
Norman explained that the communities themselves were organising the 
times/meetings. 

7. There was some discussion about how long or short the policies should be. Although 
current thought is that Local Plan policies should be brief and concise, making use of 
more supplementary planning guidance (SPG), David Bale noted that sometimes it was 
more user-friendly for the Local Plan to contain all the relevant info, rather than needing 
to look at numerous other documents or policies for detail. 


COMMUNITY LIAISON CO-ORDINATORS’ REPORTS. 

5. Jean noted that the Community Councils seem to be more interested in being involved 
now. David Bale asked whether the community statements would be linked back to 
what the consultation report said. This was confirmed by the planners. 

6. Anna’s report highlighted that more publicity was required for the next phase. 


UPDATE ON NATIONAL PARK PLAN. 

7. Hamish outlined the progress with the Park Plan, noting that the contents, vision and 
objectives had been presented to the Park Board on the 8th April. 

8. Miff said he was unsure about the key principles. Bruce said that he thought they were 
fine but that there were some presentational issues that needed to be dealt with before 
the public could be shown them. 


SEA (Strategic Environmental Assessment) 

9. Gavin explained that the formality of the Screening Report had been sent to the 
Consultation Authorities and that Hamish and Gavin were progressing work on the 
Scoping Report. 

10. David Bale noted that he thought Hamish’s paper on the special qualities of the park 
might be a good starting point for the scoping. 


UPDATE ON HOUSING ISSUES 

11. Miff expressed concern that the CNPA might constrain property development within the 
Park, particularly in rural areas. Bruce noted that there was not an intention to prevent 
the renovation or reuse of property, simply to try to ensure that new houses were kept as 
effective housing for people living in the park. 

12. It was noted that obtaining housing projections was proving difficult. The demand for 
affordable housing was also discussed and it was noted that Local Housing Needs 
Surveys give more accurate information on demand than council waiting lists. 


ANY OTHER BUSINESS. 
13. Gavin explained that consultants had been appointed to conduct a Landscape Capacity 
study for the main settlements. This will be used to identify longer term housing land 
options as well as give some indication of how to best integrate existing developments in 
the landscape. 


DATE OF NEXT MEETING. 

14. The next meeting was arranged for Tuesday 10th May 2005, at 3pm in Ballater, venue to 
be confirmed. 

15. The meeting closed at 4:30pm.