Conservationists welcome refusal of estate's bid for 'private road' by Newtonmore and Kingussie

Conservationists in the strath have welcomed the refusal of a new 4.5 kilometres hill track spanning Kingussie and Newtonmore.

The proposal by Pitmain and Glenbanchor Estate was knocked back after just a few minutes’ debate about its merits at the latest Cairngorms National Park Authority planning committee meeting.

There was also a ticking off for estate representatives for bringing into question the capability of the CNPA’s planners and their recommendation for refusal.

In the discussion, several planning committee members pointed out the CNPA had spent lengthy consideration devising its policy on hill tracks in the national park – and this bid ran contrary to it.

The proposed start and the western end of the track was earmarked to lie around one mile north-west of Newtonmore.

A bridge was to cross the Allt a’ Chaorann – a tributary of the River Calder – and its farthest, eastern end was proposed one mile to the east of Loch Gynack, around two miles north-west of Kingussie.

The applicant has said the track would be used for timber extraction amongst other things but those battling the bid have said it would in effect be a private road.

Objections were heard at the meeting from the Badenoch and Strathspey Conservation Group, North East Mountain Trust and access campaigner Dave Morris, of Newtonmore.

He told the meeting: “This planning application for the construction of a new private road in the Cairngorms is a serious test of the planning process in this national park. If the committee was to approve this application it would push the gate wide open for other landowners to come forward with private road proposals of dubious merit.”

Mr Morris said he has known the area since the 1970s.

He commented: “In my view there is no other settlement in the national park which is so fortunate to have an area of undulating moorland, rich in wildlife and relatively little modified by artificial structures which is so close to the settlement and the public road network.

"Its enjoyment for walking, skiing, cycling or simply observing nature and the landscape, at its best, is of huge value."

CNPA chief planner Gavin Miles had described the track as ‘a big road’ in his presentation with up to 10 metres wide and long passing places. He said the amount of cut and fill required was ‘alarming’ to create parts of the track.

In essence, Mr Miles said ‘it is a forest road not being constructed in a forest’.

Estate representatives had said the track would be used to extract non-native exotic species from the estate as part of its native woodland restoration and re-creation scheme.

Eighteen hectares of non-natives is to be removed – some 15,000 tonnes of timber.

Ewan Harris told the meeting: “Pitmain and Glenbanchor Estates believes that excellent environmental stewardship is a responsibility of all landowners.”

He added: “We are trying to do good things... The environmental challenges we face can not just be the preserve of re-wilders to make a difference across the whole park and wider country. The extraction road is a means to achieving this positive environmental goal.”

The estate’s planning agent Frazer Gillespie said he had been informed of reasons why the application was contrary to the newly adopted National Planning Framework 4

He told the meeting: “I can tell you that every single one of the planning officer’s reasons can be dismantled on an evidence led basis.”

However, the CNPA's committee members refused the application with the minimum of debate, endorsing their hill tracks policy and saying that the bid did not meet the requirements.

Gus Jones, Badenoch and Strathspey Conservation Group spokesman, commented afterwards: “The scheme would have damaged a widely admired landscape, destroyed important habitats, impacted threatened wildlife and undermined the characteristic wildness qualities of the area.

“Some 22 per cent of the new route would have impacted peat between half a metre and three and a half metres deep.

"The works, involving the excavation and drying of peat would have released carbon into the atmosphere as well as prevented carbon sequestration.

"In addition, through disrupting the overland water flow feeding blanket bog below the track, the development risked reducing the ability of this wider area of peatland to lock up carbon and combat climate change.”

The full planning committee meeting can be viewed on YouTube by searching The Cairngorms National Park Live Stream.

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