Description of local environment

Air quality

There are no Air Quality Management Areas (AQMA) within 10km of the scheme extents.

There are no registered sites on the Scottish Pollutant Release Inventory (SPRI) located within 10km of the schemes.

There are no Air Quality Monitoring Stations (AQMS) within 10km of the scheme extents.

Due to the semi-rural location of the works, baseline air quality is likely to be primarily influenced by traffic travelling along the A85; with secondary sources likely derived from nearby land management activities.

Cultural heritage

The following cultural heritage features are recorded within 300m of the scheme (PastMap):

  • 3 Historic Environment Records (HER) and 2 National Records of the Historic Environment (NRHE); the closest of which, Glen Ogle HER, lies within the scheme extents, with the remaining two located approximately 50m from the scheme extents.

There are no Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas, Battlefields, World Heritage Sites, Garden and Designed Landscapes or Scheduled Monuments within 300m of the scheme extents.

Landscape and visual effects

The scheme is located wholly within the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park (LLTNP) (8621) which is designated for the following special general qualities:

  • A world-renowned landscape famed for its rural beauty
  • Wild and rugged highlands contrasting with pastoral lowlands
  • Water in its many forms
  • The rich variety of woodlands
  • Settlements nestled within a vast natural backdrop
  • Famous through-routes
  • Tranquillity
  • The easily accessible landscape splendour

The scheme is not located within proximity to a National Scenic Area or any other site designated for its landscape and visual character (SiteLink).

The scheme is located on a semi-rural stretch of the A85 northwest of Lochearnhead. The surrounding land is dominated by grazing pastures; montane scrub; freshwater habitat; and mixed woodland, including coniferous forestry plantations.

The scheme is located within the Landscape Character Type (LCT) ‘LCT 252- Upland Glens – Loch Lomond & the Trossachs’ (NatureScot), which has the following key characteristics:

  • Often narrow with little flat glen floor, strongly enclosed by steep hill slopes of the adjacent Steep Ridges and Hills and Highland Summits.
  • Steep glen sides often patterned with rocky outcrops, boulders and screes but also extensively forested, particularly on lower slopes.
  • Tributary burns and rivers cut deep gullies into slopes and many feature waterfalls and cascades, pools and rocky outcrops.
  • Walled pastures sometimes occasionally occurring on lower (usually south-facing) slopes. Heather covers better drained areas, and bright green flushes appear at spring lines on hill slopes.
  • Some glens covered with extensive coniferous forestry.
  • Notable ancient and semi-ancient woodlands of oak and birch in some glens, Natural regeneration of scrub woodland where grazing has declined as in the Luss Glens.
  • Relict wood pasture and Caledonian pine woodlands evident in some areas,
  • Scattered trees and native woodland trace the edges of burns.
  • Sparsely settled but with some isolated farms in lower reaches of glens, these often south-facing.
  • Significant cultural features in more open glens, including shielings and abandoned field systems.
  • Areas of crofting evident on some lower slopes.
  • Some important historic strategic routes for communications and accommodate key road and rail links today for example.
  • Classic views channelled up and down the Glens, with steep side slopes framing landscapes that lie beyond them.

The A85 Trunk Road connects Perth with Crianlarich and Tyndrum to Oban. The Perth to Crianlarich section commences at the Crieff Road Roundabout within Perth (including the roundabout) leading generally westwards for a distance of 81 kilometres to (but excluding) the A85 / A82 Crianlarich Roundabout. The Tyndrum to Oban section commences at the A82 / A85 Tyndrum junction leading generally westwards for a distance of 57 kilometres to its junction with the A816 within Oban (excluding the roundabout at Argyll Square). The A85 is a single carriageway along its length. 

Biodiversity

No European sites (i.e. Special Protection Areas (SPAs), Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) or Ramsar sites) are located within 2km of the scheme extents. As such, no Habitats Regulations Appraisal (HRA) Proforma was required.

There are no Local Nature Conservation Sites (LNCS), Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) or Local Nature Reserves (LNRs) within 300m of, or which share connectivity with, the scheme extents (SiteLink).

The National Biodiversity Network (NBN) Atlas holds several records of bird species within 2km of the scheme (the search criteria included only records during the past ten years, and which have open-use attributions (OGL, CC-BY). Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended), all wild birds and their active nests are protected, with certain species receiving additional protections.

The NBN Atlas holds no records of injurious weeds or invasive non-native species (INNS) (as listed in the Network Management Contract (NMC)) under the same search criteria; however, this does not preclude their potential presence in the area.

Transport Scotland’s Asset Management Performance System (AMPS) also holds no records of INNS or injurious weeds within 300m of scheme extents.

Habitat in the surrounding area is dominated by grazing pastures; montane scrub; and mixed woodland, including coniferous forestry plantations. Lochan Lairig Cheile and connecting minor waterbodies also provide freshwater habitats in close proximity to the scheme.

There are no areas of woodland as listed on the Ancient Woodland Inventory (AWI) within 300m of scheme extents.

There are no Tree Preservation Orders (TPO’s) designated by LLTNP within 300m of the scheme.

Geology and soils

There are no Geological Conservation Review Sites (GCRS’s) or SSSI’s designated for geological features within 300m of the scheme (SiteLink).

The British Geological Survey geology viewer records the bedrock within the scheme extents as a combination of the following metamorphic bedrock types:

  • Ben Ledi Grit Formation – Psammite and semi-pelite.
  • Loch Tay Limestone Formation – Metalimestone.
  • Unnamed Metamorphosed Igneous Rocks, Pre-Caledonian to Caledonian period – Amphibolite.

The mapping tool records till and morainic deposits as the only superficial deposit within scheme extents.

The major soil group found within the scheme is recorded as humus-iron podzols with peaty gleys (Scotland’s Soils).

These soils are recorded on the 2016 Carbon and Peatland Map as being ‘Class 0’; mineral soils, in which peatland habitats are not typically found.

Works will be restricted to previously engineered ground within the A85 trunk road boundary.

Material assets and waste

The resurfacing works are required to replace worn surface and general maintenance of the A85 trunk road. Materials used will consist of:

  • Asphaltic material
  • Bituminous emulsion bond coat
  • Milled in road studs
  • Thermoplastic road marking paint

Wastes are anticipated to be removed planings from the surface course, which will be recovered for re-use in line with BEAR Scotland’s Procedure 126: The Production of Fully Recovered Asphalt Road Planings. The Contractor is responsible for the disposal of road planings, and this has been registered in accordance with a Paragraph 13(a) waste exemption issued by SEPA, as described in Schedule 3 of the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 2011.

There is no requirement for a site compound.

As the estimated scheme value is higher than £350,000; a Site Waste Management Plan (SWMP) is required to be in place for works.

No coal tar has been highlighted as being present within the scheme extents.

Noise and vibration

For residential, community and commercial receptors refer to the ‘Population and Human Health’ section below.

The works do not fall within a Candidate Noise Management Area (CNMA) as defined by Transport Scotland’s Transportation Noise Action Plan (TNAP) 2019-2023.

Modelled noise data for the A85 at the scheme extents shows that the day, evening and night levels (Lden) fall between 60-70dB (SpatialData.gov.scot).

Baseline noise levels are likely to be primarily influenced by traffic travelling along the A85; with secondary sources derived from nearby land management activities.

Population and human health

The scheme lies on a semi-rural stretch of the A85 north of Lochearnhead. There are two residential properties within 300m of the scheme, the closest of which lies approximately 10m west of the carriageway with minimal acoustic or visual screening provided by a line of shrubbery.

There are two local access points at the above properties and one forestry access track/cycle path (see below) also located in the middle of scheme extents. There is also one layby within the scheme extents.

There are no parking facilities, paved footways, bus stops or pedestrian facilities within the scheme extents.

One National Cycle Routes (National Cycle Route 7) lies within 300m of the scheme extents; this cycle route is also recorded as a Core Path (ID: S0974/S0983) which runs parallel to the west of the A85 carriageway and crosses to the east at the midpoint, another core path continues as a forestry/access track from this point (ID: S0412) and leads northwest, away from the A85.

No walking routes designated by WalkHighlands lie within 300m of the scheme.

In 2025, the annual average daily flow (AADF) of traffic was estimated on the A85 at a site 13km east of the scheme (Site ID: ATC06002) and accounted for 4,081 vehicles, with 20.0% of these heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) (Transport Scotland Traffic Count Data).

TM will involve night time road closures with regular amnesties. 

Road drainage and the water environment

There are no waterbodies classified by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) under the Water Framework Directive (WFD) within 300m of scheme extents (SEPA).

Lochan Lairig Cheile and several unclassified waterbodies, drains, springs and culverts lie within 300m of the scheme, two of which are culverted under the A85 within the scheme extent (SEPA).

Killin, Aberfeldy and Angus Glens groundwater body (ID: 150699) underpins scheme extents, which were classified by SEPA in 2023 as having an overall condition of ‘Good’ (SEPA). This is also listed as a Drinking Water Protected Area (DWPA) (ground).

SEPA Flood Map has highlighted a high risk of river and surface water flooding within the scheme extent (i.e. 10% chance of flooding each year).

Climate

The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 (‘The Act’), and its subsequent amendment under the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019, sets the framework for the Scottish Government to address climate change. The Act has an ambitious target to reach Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045, with any residual emissions balanced by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This is five years earlier than the rest of the UK due to the greater potential for carbon sequestration in Scotland.

The Act was amended to replace interim targets with carbon budgets. Carbon budgets are legally binding caps on greenhouse gas emissions in Scotland over five-year periods. In line with the Act, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) published advice on the level of Scotland’s four carbon budgets, covering the period 2026 to 2045, recommending what the Scottish Government sets its carbon budgets at for annual average levels of emissions. These recommendations are based on an ambitious but credible route to Net Zero for Scotland by 2045.

Emissions reductions from surface transport are the largest contribution to meeting the first two carbon budgets. The pathway for surface transport emission reduction is primarily driven by the uptake of electric vehicles, in addition to measures to enable a shift from car use to public transport and active travel, which all play a role in reducing emissions from fossil fuel cars. Ensuring efficiency of existing transport infrastructure and improving/providing new active travel facilities is therefore important to support these carbon reduction budgets.

Transport is the largest contributor to harmful climate emissions in Scotland. In response to the climate emergency, Transport Scotland are committed to reducing their emissions by 75% by 2030 and to the above noted legally binding target of net-zero by 2045. Transport Scotland is committed to reducing carbon across Scotland’s transport network and this commitment is being enacted through the Mission Zero for Transport (Mission Zero for transport | Transport Scotland).