Description of local environment

Air quality

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

One Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA)-registered facility which records emissions to air is located within 10km of the scheme, as recorded on the Scottish Pollutant Release Inventory (SPRI). The site (Madderty Poultry Farm, Welltree Road, Crieff) is located 1.85km south of the scheme, and records emissions of the pollutants Ammonia (t) and Methane (t).

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

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

Cultural heritage

A search using the Historic Environment Scotland (HES) mapping tool PastMap has not highlighted any designated features of Cultural Heritage (such as Scheduled Monuments, Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas, Battlefields, Garden & Designed Landscapes, or World Heritage Sites) within 300m of the scheme.

Of lesser cultural heritage interest, seven items recorded on the Historic Environment Record (HER) and National Record of the Historic Environment (NRHE) databases are located within 300m of the scheme. The closest of these relates to Burnside farmstead, a HER, which is located 120m from the western scheme extent.

The works are confined to the trunk road boundary. As such, construction of the A85 is likely to have removed any archaeological remains that may have been present within the area and as such ‘cultural heritage’ is scoped out and is not discussed further within this RoD.

Landscape and visual effects

The scheme is not located within a National Park (NP), National Scenic Area (NSA), or any other site designated for its landscape or visual character or quality (SiteLink).

The scheme is located within the NatureScot assigned Landscape Character Type (LCT) ‘Lowland Hills – Tayside’ (LCT 380). This LCT has the following Key Characteristics:

  • Low rounded ridges and hills separating lowland straths and adjoining the nearby uplands.
  • Composed of soft, red sandstones.
  • Transitional character with medium-scale pastures on lower slopes, giving way to rough grazing and even, open moorland higher up.
  • Extensive woodland, including conifer forests on less fertile soils.
  • Evidence of historic settlement and land use, with prehistoric standing stones, cairns, stone and hut circles, Roman forts roads and signal stations, and fortified houses and castles marking gateway points to the Highlands.
  • Modern settlement limited to scattered farmsteads and hamlets, with some main roads and pylons.

The land surrounding the scheme is primarily agricultural grassland with some intermittent pockets of woodland. The A85 carriageway is a prominent linear landscape feature. The road corridor, for example, has a distinct character shaped by fast-flowing traffic, road markings and signage. The scale of the carriageway detracts from the quality and character of the wider landscape.

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-designated sites of biodiversity importance (i.e. Special Protection Areas (SPAs), Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) or Ramsar sites) are located within 2km of (or share wider connectivity with) the scheme. Similarly, the scheme is not located within 300m of any locally or nationally designated biodiversity site (i.e., Site of Special Scientifical Interest (SSSI) or Local Nature Reserves) (SiteLink).

Habitats surrounding the A85 carriageway are dominated by areas of grassland/farmland, with some intermittent pockets of woodland. Due to restriction to the A85 carriageway and therefore localised nature of the works, an ecological constraints survey was deemed unnecessary and as such only desktop study data has been used for this assessment.

The NBN Atlas does not hold any records of invasive non-native species (INNS) or injurious weeds using the same search criteria noted above; however, this does not preclude their potential presence in the area.

Transport Scotland’s Asset Management Performance System (AMPS) has several records of rosebay willowherb (Chamerion angustifolium) growth in the A85 verge within the scheme extent. 

One area of ancient woodland (as listed on the Ancient Woodland Inventory (AWI) via Scotland's Environment) is located within 300m of the scheme. ‘Downie Burn’ wood (Wood ID: 18123) is located 50m south from the A85 at the scheme extent.

There are no Tree Preservation Orders (TPO) within 300m of the scheme (Perth and Kinross Council).

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).

Component soils throughout the scheme are comprised of brown earths with humus-iron podzols (Scotland's Soils). Local soils are also awarded a ‘Class 0’ categorisation for Carbon and Peatland, which relates to mineral soils on which peatland habitats and vegetation are not typically found (Carbon and Peatland Map 2016). C

The British Geological Survey (BGS) geology viewer records the local bedrock geology type as ‘Teith Sandstone Formation’. Superficial deposits are recorded as till (Diamicton), which is a sedimentary superficial deposit type (BGS Geology Viewer).

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 (AC32/AC20/TS2010)
  • Bituminous emulsion bond coat
  • Milled in road studs
  • Thermoplastic road marking paint
  • New signage/ironwork as required

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.

There is no requirement for a site compound.

No Site Waste Management Plan (SWMP) is required to be in place for works.

No coal tar has been highlighted within the scheme extent during investigation works.

Noise and vibration

For human health 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 levels for ‘day, evening, night’ (LDEN) for the A85 carriageway are recorded as 60-70dB within the scheme extent (Scotland's Noise Map).

In 2021, the Average Daily Traffic (ADT) flow on the A85 trunk road was calculated as 5,872 vehicles, of which 11.6% were Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs). This was calculated using data from a Transport Scotland manual traffic counter located 8.5km east of the scheme on the A85 (Site ID: ATC03014) (Transport Scotland Traffic Count Data). No more recent whole-year traffic data is available for this count point, however current 2025 data shows an ADT flow of 7,307 vehicles.

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 west of Crieff. There are approximately seven residential properties within 300m of the scheme, the closest of which lies 15m south of the A85 carriageway at the western scheme extent. Several of these properties are afforded no visual screening from the works area.

Several access points are located within the scheme extent, which lead to residential properties, farmland, and the local road network. One layby is located on the westbound carriageway within the scheme extent.

No street-lighting, paved footways, other non-motorised user (NMU) facilities are present along the A85 within the scheme extent.

There are no Core Paths, National Cycle Network (NCN) routes, nor any Walkhighlands routes located within 300m of the scheme.

Road drainage and the water environment

The scheme is underlain by the Crieff groundwater body (ID: 150668), which was assigned a condition classification of ‘Good’ in 2024 by the SEPA, under the Water Framework Directive (WFD) (SEPA).

Pow Water is culverted below the A85 carriageway 290m west of the scheme, and flows 70m south of the scheme at its closest point. This watercourse was assigned a WFD condition classification of ‘Moderate’ in 2024. No other watercourses classified under the WFD are located within 300m of the scheme.

Several other unclassified minor watercourses/drainage channels are located within 300m of the scheme, including several which flow below or directly adjacent to the carriageway.

There are several areas of the A85 throughout the scheme extent that have a low to medium risk (0.1-0.5% chance each year) of surface water 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).