Okay, here’s the con­ver­ted Mark­down con­tent from the image, format­ted for bet­ter readability:

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHORITY

Form­al Board Paper 2 Annex 4 10^th June 2022

CAIRNGORMS

NATION­AL PARK AUTHORITY

UGH­DAR­RAS PAIRC NAISEANTA A’ MHON­AIDH RUAIDH

Equal­ity Impact Assess­ment (EqIA)

Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan 2022 — 2027

(Updated May 2022)

Back­ground

The Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan (NPPP) sets out how all those with a respons­ib­il­ity for the Park will co-ordin­ate their work to tackle the most import­ant issues and deliv­er the four aims’ of Nation­al Parks in Scot­land col­lect­ively. In par­tic­u­lar, the NPPP:

• Sets out the vis­ion and over­arch­ing strategy for man­aging the Park.
• Guides the work of all pub­lic bod­ies and oth­er part­ners to deliv­er the aims of the Park.
• Provides the stra­tegic con­text for the Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan.
• Sets out the region­al land use frame­work and region­al spa­tial strategy for the Park.
• Sets out the eco­nom­ic and sus­tain­able tour­ism strategy for the Park.

The NPPP is arranged in three sec­tions: Nature, People and Place. In each sec­tion we set out long-term object­ives up to 2045 (the year Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment has com­mit­ted to achiev­ing net zero), fol­lowed by a set of policies and actions for the next five years. The Part­ner­ship Plan is in turn under­pinned by a series of more tar­geted action plans and pro­jects that deliv­er on the ground.

Scope

This equal­ity impact assess­ment focuses on the poten­tial impact of the NPPP in rela­tion to the Nation­al Park’s com­munit­ies, res­id­ents, vis­it­ors as well as stake­hold­ers, investors and the busi­ness com­munity; vis­it­ors. Spe­cific­ally, it focusses on groups with pro­tec­ted char­ac­ter­ist­ics under Equal­ity Act 2010. This impact assess­ment will cover:

• Legis­lat­ive Responsibilities
• Evid­ence
• Con­sulta­tion

The Four Aims of Scot­tish Nation­al Parks are to be pur­sued col­lect­ively unless there is con­flict between the first aim and any of the oth­ers, when great­er weight must be giv­en to the first aim (as set out in Sec­tion 9.6 of the Nation­al Parks (Scot­land) Act 2000).

1. To con­serve and enhance the nat­ur­al and cul­tur­al her­it­age of the area.
2. To pro­mote sus­tain­able use of the nat­ur­al resources of the area.
3. To pro­mote under­stand­ing and enjoy­ment (includ­ing enjoy­ment in the form of recre­ation) of the spe­cial qual­it­ies of the area by the public.
4. To pro­mote sus­tain­able eco­nom­ic and social devel­op­ment of the area’s communities.

• Impact
• Actions taken to date
• Future actions required.
• Recog­nised timeline for updates and review.

The draft NPPP will be con­sul­ted on in pub­lic, before being final­ised and signed off by the Scot­tish Min­is­ters. Fur­ther inform­a­tion on its poten­tial impact on groups with pro­tec­ted char­ac­ter­ist­ics may be gathered dur­ing the con­sulta­tion and via indi­vidu­al actions or pro­jects dur­ing its implementation.

Legis­lat­ive Responsibilities

The Equal­ity Act (2010) came into force in April 2010 and puts a gen­er­al duty on pub­lic author­it­ies to have due regard to the need to elim­in­ate unlaw­ful dis­crim­in­a­tion, advance equal­ity of oppor­tun­ity and foster good rela­tions. In addi­tion the spe­cif­ic duties for Scot­tish pub­lic author­it­ies require that CNPA assesses the impact on equal­ity groups of all pro­posed new or revised policy or prac­tice against the needs of the gen­er­al duty.

Under the Equal­ity Act (2010) the fol­low­ing pro­tec­ted char­ac­ter­ist­ics are age, dis­ab­il­ity, gender reas­sign­ment, mar­riage and civil part­ner­ship, preg­nancy and mater­nity, race, reli­gion or belief, sex, and sexu­al ori­ent­a­tion. While there is a legis­lat­ive respons­ib­il­ity to assess the impact on these groups, CNPA intends to assess any groups where there is evid­ence of adverse impact for example socio-eco­nom­ic status and rurality.

Assess­ing impact is an effect­ive way of improv­ing policy devel­op­ment and ser­vice deliv­ery, mak­ing sure we con­sider the needs of the Nation­al Park’s com­munit­ies and vis­it­ors; identi­fy poten­tial steps to advance equal­ity and foster good rela­tions; and do not dis­crim­in­ate unlawfully.

Evid­ence

In assess­ing the impact this EqIA has taken into account data from Census 2011, Scot­tish Index of Mul­tiple Depriva­tion 2020 (SIMD) and Cairngorms Vis­it­or Sur­vey 2020.

Inform­a­tion from EqlAs car­ried out for cur­rent Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity plans, policies and pro­grammes that are closely related to the NPPP and oth­er doc­u­ments related to equal­it­ies have been taken into account:

• EqlAs car­ried out for the Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021 and the Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan 2017 – 2022,
• EqlAs car­ried out for oth­er plans pro­duced for the Cairngorms Nation­al Park,
• Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Equal­ity Out­comes 2021 – 2024,
• Gen­er­ic EqlAs car­ried out for oth­er pub­lic­a­tions (which provide evid­ence for the pub­lic­a­tion of the NPPP) and web­sites (which provide evid­ence for any web-based mater­i­al asso­ci­ated with the NPPP), and
• Nation­al Stand­ards for Com­munity Engagement.

Con­sulta­tion under­taken to date

• Meet­ings with key Stakeholders

• Dis­cus­sion with Cairngorms Equal­ity Advis­ory Forum

• Inform­al con­sulta­tion using social media and Com­mon­place engage­ment plat­form: https://​cairngorms​views​.com​mon​place​.is/

• Form­al engage­ment on draft Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan under­taken mainly through https://​cairngorms​views​.com​mon​place​.is/ and pro­moted via social media and CNPA news, sup­ple­men­ted by meet­ings with numer­ous stake­hold­er groups.
• Use of an inde­pend­ent mar­ket research agency (Scot­in­form) to con­duct one to one inter­views with audi­ences that were under-rep­res­en­ted in the pre­vi­ous con­sulta­tion exer­cise on the Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan 5 years ago. This included eth­nic minor­ity groups and audi­ences with access­ib­il­ity needs as well as land man­agers, loc­al busi­nesses, com­munity groups and health providers.

Impact

The NPPP sets out stra­tegic dir­ec­tion, object­ives, policies and actions, identi­fy­ing the things that will make the biggest con­tri­bu­tion to a suc­cess­ful Nation­al Park over the com­ing years. How­ever, it should be noted that the NPPP is a stra­tegic doc­u­ment and many of its object­ives, policies and actions are a sign­post to future detailed pro­jects, many of which will them­selves require EqlA and bespoke audits or assess­ments to ensure pro­jects fol­low best prac­tice in their rel­ev­ant fields.

The con­sulta­tion on the draft NPPP reached a lar­ger audi­ence than ever before, includ­ing some minor­ity groups at levels reflec­ted in the Scot­tish pop­u­la­tion. There was a high degree of sup­port for much of the dir­ec­tion and con­tent of the draft plan as well as many spe­cif­ic com­ments on the con­tent of the plan or on poten­tial pro­jects or future work. A range of com­ments were made in rela­tion to equal­ity groups or issues that affect them, often focused very on very spe­cif­ic issues that may be addressed by indi­vidu­al pro­jects in future.

The NPPP was changed fol­low­ing the con­sulta­tion in many areas, includ­ing the way it con­sidered equal­it­ies. How­ever, many of the prac­tic­al meas­ures that will make dif­fer­ence to equal­it­ies groups will be real­ised through the care­ful plan­ning of indi­vidu­al pro­jects dur­ing the life of the NPPP.

Mon­it­or­ing and Review

The deliv­ery of the NPPP will be mon­itored through­out its life, with spe­cif­ic indic­at­ors and tar­gets that are dir­ectly related to equal­it­ies. Its sub­si­di­ary action plans and pro­jects will be sub­ject to their own more spe­cif­ic EqlAs and have more spe­cif­ic mon­it­or­ing on a pro­ject by pro­ject basis.

Equal­ity Group	Impact	Mit­ig­a­tion	Fur­ther actions
Age	The NPPP will seek to increase access­ib­il­ity to the Park and the abil­ity of people of all ages, includ­ing under-rep­res­en­ted groups such as young people, to exper­i­ence and enjoy its spe­cial qual­it­ies. This impact is likely to be positive.	Due to the NPPP being a stra­tegic doc­u­ment, many of the policies and object­ives are too gen­er­al to enable mean­ing­ful assess­ment to identi­fy spe­cif­ic long term mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures. Detailed action plans and pro­jects will be sub­ject to their own EqIA and oth­er spe­cif­ic assessments/​audits.	Use the Cairngorms Youth Action Team to inform devel­op­ment of rel­ev­ant projects.
	The NPPP also acts as the Region­al Spa­tial Strategy (RSS) for the Nation­al Park, which forms part of the suite of plan­ning policy doc­u­ments, includ­ing the Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan (LDP). While the NPPP will not itself identi­fy devel­op­ment land and pro­pos­als for the pro­vi­sion of facil­it­ies and ser­vices, it will provide dir­ec­tion for the next LDP and does set out a set­tle­ment strategy. This impact is likely to be pos­it­ive as the aim is to improve the social, eco­nom­ic and social sus­tain­ab­il­ity of the area.	Con­sulta­tion mater­i­als were made as access­ible as pos­sible, includ­ing using plain Eng­lish, social media, phys­ic­al cop­ies and the Com­mon­place engage­ment platform.	Use the Cairngorms Equal­it­ies Advis­ory For­um and access­ib­il­ity pan­els to inform devel­op­ment of rel­ev­ant projects.
	Poten­tial neg­at­ive impacts may arise if young people do not par­ti­cip­ate in the consultation.	The Cairngorms Youth Engage­ment Team were con­sul­ted explicitly.	Using EqlA of indi­vidu­al pro­jects to devel­op their detail.
		The CNPA con­trac­ted a mar­ket research com­pany to provide advice on the tar­get­ing of com­mu­nic­a­tions and tar­geted inter­views with groups that are harder to reach or under­rep­res­en­ted on society.
Dis­ab­il­ity	The Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan will seek to increase access­ib­il­ity to the Park and the abil­ity of all people to exper­i­ence and enjoy its spe­cial qual­it­ies. This impact is likely to be pos­it­ive. Fur­ther­more, its role as an RSS means that it includes a ​‘set­tle­ment strategy’ that pro­motes social, eco­nom­ic and envir­on­ment­al sustainability.	Due to the NPPP being a stra­tegic doc­u­ment, many of the policies and object­ives are too gen­er­al to enable mean­ing­ful assess­ment to identi­fy spe­cif­ic long term mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures. Detailed action plans and pro­jects will be sub­ject to their own EqIA and oth­er spe­cif­ic assessments/​audits.	Use the Cairngorms Equal­it­ies Advis­ory For­um and access­ib­il­ity pan­els to inform devel­op­ment of rel­ev­ant projects.
	Poten­tial medi­um neg­at­ive impacts may arise as doc­u­ment­a­tion and con­sulta­tion mater­i­al may not be eas­ily access­ible to all groups.	Con­sulta­tion mater­i­als were made as access­ible as pos­sible, includ­ing using plain Eng­lish, social media, phys­ic­al cop­ies and the Com­mon­place engage­ment platform.	Using EqlA of indi­vidu­al pro­jects to devel­op their detail.
		The Cairngorms Youth Engage­ment Team were con­sul­ted explicitly.
		The CNPA con­trac­ted a mar­ket research com­pany to provide advice on the tar­get­ing of com­mu­nic­a­tions and tar­geted inter­views with groups that are harder to reach or under­rep­res­en­ted on society.
Gender Reas­sign­ment	Neut­ral impact on this group.	N/A	Use the Cairngorms Equal­it­ies Advis­ory For­um and access­ib­il­ity pan­els to inform devel­op­ment of rel­ev­ant pro­jects. Using EqlA of indi­vidu­al pro­jects to devel­op their detail.
Mar­riage / Civil Part­ner­ship	Neut­ral impact on this group.	N/A
Preg­nancy / Mater­nity	Neut­ral impact on this group.	N/A
Race	The NPPP will seek to increase access­ib­il­ity to the Park and the abil­ity of people of all ages, includ­ing under-rep­res­en­ted groups such as young people, to exper­i­ence and enjoy its spe­cial qual­it­ies. This impact is likely to be positive.	Due to the NPPP being a stra­tegic doc­u­ment, many of the policies and object­ives are too gen­er­al to enable mean­ing­ful assess­ment to identi­fy spe­cif­ic long term mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures. Detailed action plans and pro­jects will be sub­ject to their own EqIA and oth­er spe­cif­ic assessments/​audits.	Use the Cairngorms Equal­it­ies Advis­ory For­um and access­ib­il­ity pan­els to inform devel­op­ment of rel­ev­ant projects.
	Poten­tial neg­at­ive impacts may arise if doc­u­ment­a­tion and con­sulta­tion mater­i­al may not be eas­ily access­ible and/​or under­stood by non-Eng­lish speak­ers. Fur­ther­more, the Nation­al Park has a very low res­id­ent BAME pop­u­la­tion who may be hard to reach. BAME people also account for a low pro­por­tion of vis­it­ors again caus­ing poten­tial con­sulta­tion issues.	Con­sulta­tion mater­i­als were made as access­ible as pos­sible, includ­ing using plain Eng­lish, social media, phys­ic­al cop­ies and the Com­mon­place engage­ment platform.	Using EqlA of indi­vidu­al pro­jects to devel­op their detail.
		The Cairngorms Youth Engage­ment Team were con­sul­ted explicitly.
		The CNPA con­trac­ted a mar­ket research com­pany to provide advice on the tar­get­ing of com­mu­nic­a­tions and tar­geted inter­views with groups that are harder to reach or under­rep­res­en­ted on society.
Reli­gion and Belief	Neut­ral impact on this group.	N/A
Sex (gender)	Neut­ral impact on this group.	N/A
Sexu­al Ori­ent­a­tion	Neut­ral impact on this group.	N/A

Com­pleted by:

Dan Har­ris, Plan­ning Manager

Gav­in Miles, Head of Stra­tegic Planning

Key improve­ments in this version:

• Head­ers: Clear head­ings and sub­head­ings to delin­eate sections.
• Lists: Uses bul­let points for the vari­ous lists in the document.
• Tables: Uses Mark­down table format for the equal­ity groups, impact, mit­ig­a­tion, and fur­ther actions.
• Emphas­is: Uses bold text for the main titles
• Read­ab­il­ity: Line breaks and spa­cing for bet­ter flow.

This Mark­down should now be much easi­er to read and use!