Description of local environment

Air quality

The scheme does not lie within any Air Quality Management Areas (Scottish Air Quality).

The Perth Glasgow Road Air Quality Monitoring Station lies approximately 2.9km southeast of the scheme, and it has an air quality of ‘Low (2)’.

There are no records of sites as listed on the Scottish Pollutant Release Inventory (SPRI) within 10km of the scheme.

Due to the semi-urban location of the scheme, baseline air quality is likely primarily influenced by traffic along the A85 trunk road and urban activities associated with the village of Almondbank. Secondary releases are likely delivered by nearby agricultural and land management activities in the surrounding area.

Cultural heritage

A search through PastMap online cultural heritage mapping tool revealed that there are no Conservation Areas, Battlefield, or World Heritage sites within 300m of the scheme.

The Category B Listed Building ‘Tofthouses’ (Refence: LB18301) lies 20m north of the scheme.

There are two Scheduled Monuments that lies within 300m of the scheme, the closest of which is ‘Cairn, 110m SW of Almondbank Filling Station’ (Reference: SM2267), which lies approximately 75m south of the scheme. The second is ‘Mains Of Huntingtower, Henge, Enclosures, Pits And Road Wsw O’ (Reference: SM3630), which lies approximately 250m southeast of the scheme.

The ‘Methven Castle’ Garden & Designed Landscape (Reference: GDL00285) lies directly adjacent to the west end of the scheme.

Of lesser cultural heritage value numerous Historic Environment Records (HERs) and one National Record of the Historic Environment (NRHE) are located within 300m of the scheme.

The closest HER is a record of a dismantled railway line ‘Perth - Crieff Railway’ (MPK672) which lies within the footprint of the scheme.

The closest NRHE is a record of 19th – 20th century railway station ‘Almondbank Station’ (88220) which lies 10m south of the scheme.

The construction of the A85 trunk road will likely have exposed any potential items of cultural heritage interest present within the upper engineered layers, and as such the likelihood of presence of undiscovered features is considered low.

Landscape and visual effects

The scheme does not lie within any National Parks (NP) or National Scenic Areas (NSA) (SiteLink).

The scheme lies within the ‘Lowland River corridors – Tayside’ Landscape Character Type (LCT) 381, which has the following key characteristics:

  • Well-defined river corridors in broader lowland landscapes, with the River Tay corridor being more expansive and open than the smaller scale, intimate, enclosed River Almond corridor.
  • Meandering, often incised course through softer sandstones.
  • Rapids, weirs and mills where harder rocks cross the valleys.
  • Mill settlements close to rapids and weirs, and some historic houses and designed landscapes in riverside locations.
  • Steep winding minor roads
  • Woodland is an essential landscape component with semi-natural broadleaf woodland on steeper incised slopes, and conifer forests or policy woodlands extending to the river’s edge.
  • Arable and pasture fields on higher ground either sides of the rivers, with network of hedges and hedgerow trees.
  • Relatively concealed within the wider landscape.

Within the scheme extent the land use type is classed as ‘Urban Area’ which is cities, towns and large villages with their housing, individual shops and places of education or worship, as well as prisons and hospitals, municipal buildings and hotels are noted as urban areas. Very small clusters of houses in the countryside are also included. It is also within ‘Rectilinear Fields and Farms’ which is rectilinear field boundaries and associated farm steadings and other buildings are typical of agricultural improvements since the 1700s. Recent amalgamation of these fields is common (HLAMap).

The A85 Trunk Road, within the North West Network Management Contract (NMC), 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

The River Tay Special Area of conservation (SAC) (site code: 8366) is spanned by the A85 within the scheme extents.

Due to the ecological connectivity between the scheme and River Tay SAC a Habitats Regulations Appraisal (HRA) has been completed to assess potential impacts of the works on the European site. Further details are provided in the ‘Biodiversity’ section below.

There are no Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) within 300m of the scheme extent (SiteLink).

No other sites designated for biodiversity features (e.g. Local or National Nature Reserves) lie within 2km of the scheme (SiteLink).

The NBN Atlas holds records of the following Invasive Non-Native Species (INNS) (as listed in the NMC) within 2km of the scheme extent:

  • Giant hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum)
  • Himalayan balsam (Impatiens glandulifera)
  • Japanese knotweed (Reynoutria japonica)

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

Habitat surrounding the scheme is dominated by woodland, freshwater habitats and agricultural fields with housing in the wider area.

Two unnamed areas of woodland listed on the Ancient Woodland Inventory (AWI) lie within 300m of the scheme, the closest of which lies approximately 20m north of the scheme (Wood ID: 18511).

The Lochty, Almondbank - Tree Preservation Order (TPO) lies approximately 165m north of the scheme, no other TPOs are within 300m of the scheme.

An Ecological Constraints Survey (ECS) was undertaken by the BEAR Scotland’s Environmental team on 12/06/2026 for the proposed works. The scheme was surveyed to a 200m buffer where possible, however, areas that could not be accessed were surveyed from the public paths.

Geology and soils

The scheme does not lie within 300m of any Geological Conservation Review Sites (GCRS) or geological SSSIs (SiteLink).

Bedrock geology within the scheme is recorded as Scone sandstone formation -sandstone, and superficial deposits are classed as glaciofluvial ice contact deposits - sand, gravel and boulders, as well as alluvium - sand and gravel, and glaciofluvial sheet deposits - sand and gravel (BGS).

Component soils within the scheme are classed humus-iron podzols and mineral alluvial soils with peaty alluvial soils (Scotland’s Soils).

The surrounding area lies within a Carbon and Peatland class of ‘0’, which are mineral soils with no peat present (Scotland's Soils).

Works will be restricted to previously engineered ground within the A85 trunk road boundary. Therefore, this receptor has no constraints (as identified in Environmental Baseline) that are likely to be impacted by the proposed works and as such, ‘geology and soils’ is scoped out and is not discussed further within this RoD.

Material assets and waste

The resurfacing works are necessary to replace the worn carriageway surface and to undertake general maintenance of the A85 trunk road.

Materials used will consist of:

  • TS2010 10mm aggregate
  • AC20 40/60 binder
  • Milled in road studs
  • Thermoplastic road marking paint
  • Bituminous emulsion bond coat

The value of the scheme does not exceed £350,000 therefore, a Site Waste Management Plan (SWMP) is not required.

A site compound is not required for this scheme.

Wastes are anticipated to be primarily planings from the carriageway surface course which will be reused off-site to improve local farm roads.

It has not been confirmed if any coal tar is present.

Noise and vibration

For residential, community and commercial receptors please 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) 2024-2028.

LDEN or ‘day, evening, night average noise levels’ are modelled within the scheme extent. Noise levels are recorded as being between 63-66dB on the A85 carriageway at the scheme extents (Scotland's Noise Map).

Given the semi-urban nature of the area, it is considered likely that the baseline noise will be low, with noise mainly influenced by the traffic travelling along the A85 carriageway and the urban activities associated with the village of Almondbank. Secondary noise influences are likely to arise from local agricultural activities.

Population and human health

There are a high number of commercial and residential properties within 300m of the scheme, the closest of which lies directly adjacent to the scheme extent.

Within the scheme extent there is one junction leading to the village of Almondbank and seven access roads to residential properties and one access point to a petrol station. Two bus stops lie within the scheme extents and a public footpath that runs along the majority of the scheme extents. This section of the A85 has street lighting present.

There are no National Cycle Network routes (OS Maps) or designated walking routes listed on WalkHighlands within the scheme extents.

The Perth & Kinross Core Path ‘34/21 link route, Tibbermore road to Almondbank Filling Station’ ends directly adjacent to the scheme extent (Path code: METH/148).

A vehicle traffic counter recording the Average Daily Traffic (ADT) flow count on the A85 nearest to the scheme lies approximately 1.9km west of the scheme (Site: 0000ATC03014), and recorded 7,207 vehicles, consisting of 11.3% heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), in 2025.

Road drainage and the water environment

The scheme is underpinned by the Isla and Lower Tay Sand and Gravel groundwater body (ID: 150740), in the Scotland river basin district. It is 253.7 square kilometres in area and was given an overall status of ‘Good’ in 2024 by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) under the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC (WFD).

East Pow (d/s of Methven to R Almond Confluence) is a river (ID: 6510), in the River Tay catchment of the Scotland river basin district. The main stem is approximately 7.3km in length and runs directly beneath the scheme. It was given an overall status of ‘Moderate ecological potential’ in 2024 by SEPA.

No other watercourses classified or unclassified by SEPA lie within 300m of the scheme.

Throughout the scheme extent there are multiple areas that have a high likelihood (10% chance each year) of flooding due to fluvial flooding (SEPA Flood Maps).

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).