191016Paper 4- Update&ForwardLook

CAIRNGORMS LOC­AL OUT­DOOR ACCESS FOR­UM PAPER 4 16^th Octo­ber 2019

CAIRNGORMS LOC­AL OUT­DOOR ACCESS FORUM

Title: UPDATE AND FOR­WARD LOOK

Pre­pared by: Dav­id Clyne, Recre­ation and Access Manager

Pur­pose: This paper provides an update on the main areas of work 

		both undertaken and planned towards delivery of the five 
		year outcomes in the Cairngorms National Park Partnership 
		Plan.

1. Act­ive Aviemore

Pro­ject to devel­op non-motor­ised access pro­vi­sion for the pro­posed new hos­pit­al in Aviemore and wider community.

a. The Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity (CNPA) is work­ing in part­ner­ship with 

Aviemore & Vicinity Community Council, Hitrans, The Highland Council, Sustrans 
and NHS Highland to improve walking and cycling facilities in Aviemore.

b. Phase 1: Feas­ib­il­ity and pre­lim­in­ary design report com­pleted. Full report at: 

http://cairngorms.co.uk/caring-future/developing-park-access/activeaviemore/

c. Phase 2: Detailed design fund­ing of £175,000 will be sought from Sustrans 

Community Links Fund from 2019-20 onwards. Partial award granted – full details to 
be confirmed.

d. Hos­pit­al con­struc­tion has now commenced.

1. Wee Walks Week 2019

Wee Walks Week took place dur­ing the week of the 9^th of Septem­ber 2019. Like pre­vi­ous years the object­ive was to raise aware­ness of the need to be phys­ic­ally act­ive every day and to cel­eb­rate those using short walks to improve health out­comes. Ini­tial reflec­tions intern­ally was that it was a suc­cess with lots of engage­ment on social media, a suc­cess­ful health walk lead­ers event and lots on interest in the press. The CNPA will be run­ning the week again in 2020

1. Act­ive Travel in Badenoch & Strathspey

a. In addi­tion to Act­ive Aviemore and our work with Trans­port Scot­land to secure a 

Non-Motorised Users route between Aviemore and Carr-Bridge as part of the A9 
Dualling programme we are also supporting the communities of Laggan, Kingussie, 
Dulnain Bridge and Grantown on Spey in improving their walking and cycling 
infrastructure.

b. Both the Kin­gussie and Dul­nain Bridge com­munit­ies have secured Sus­trans funding 

for feasibility studies to look at infrastructure required to improve active travel.

c. Lag­gan are devel­op­ing pro­pos­als for a sim­il­ar bid later in 2019.

1. Spey­side Way Extension

a. Con­struc­tion of the pen­ul­tim­ate sec­tion between Tromie Bridge and Ruthven is now 

well underway. Contractors are now present on site with Lot I (Tromie to Insh 
Marshes) progressing to completion mid-October. Work has also started on Lot 2 
(Insh to Ruthven) with a target completion date of early December. Official launch of 
the upgraded route is scheduled for Spring 2020.

b. Fur­ther work is con­tinu­ing in col­lab­or­a­tion with the Kin­gussie com­munity to 

examine how the route might best be connected through to Kingussie then to the 
confirmed end point in Newtonmore.

c. An inter­pret­a­tion strategy for the whole of the Spey­side Way (includ­ing the route 

outwith the National Park) is currently being drawn up. The strategy will set out 
how improved interpretation will be rolled out including such as orientation maps, 
route guidance, and local information.

Oth­er Nation­al Park Initiatives/​Matters

1. Moun­tain Paths

Cairngorms Out­door Access Trust man­aged HLF and part­ner fun­ded (CNPA, LL&TNPA, FCS, SNH) pro­ject ​‘The Moun­tains and the People’ is now well into the second half of the fun­ded pro­ject and con­tin­ues to upgrade and improve key moun­tain paths in Aber­deen­shire, Angus, Perth and Drumochter as well as Loch Lomond & The Trossachs Nation­al Park. Fur­ther details of cur­rent activ­it­ies are avail­able at the pro­ject web­site: http://​themoun​tain​sandthep​eople​.org​.uk/

The upgraded Beinn a’Ghlo was offic­ally opened by Deputy First Min­is­ter, John Swin­ney, on Fri­day 27^th Septem­ber 2019.

1. HLF Tomin­toul / Glen­liv­et Land­scape Part­ner­ship Project

The pro­ject web­site at http://​tgdt​.org​.uk/​t​o​m​i​n​t​o​u​l​-​g​l​e​n​l​i​v​e​t​-​d​e​v​e​l​o​p​m​e​n​t​-​t​r​u​s​t​/​c​u​r​rent- projects/​landscapepartnership/​provides details of the pro­ject and its object­ives. The ​‘Access­ing the Land­scape’ pro­ject is now well bey­ond the mid­way point with the main access pro­ject out­put — improv­ing the Tomin­toul Spur (Spey­side Way) now com­pletely and form­ally open to the pub­lic (see the attached press release). The second ele­ment of the pro­ject — a new low level path link­ing Glen­liv­et Dis­til­lery and Blairfindy Castle has recently received final plan­ning con­sent and is due for com­ple­tion as soon as the con­tract­ors can return to site. The phys­ic­al works are now 80% com­plete aim­ing for con­clu­sion before end of the year. The Access Pro­ject deliv­ery budget is £360k.

1. Cairngorms Caper­cail­lie HLF Project

Work still con­tin­ues with the Car­rbridge com­munity to deliv­er the ini­tial phase of this pro­ject with a view to provid­ing evid­ence and sup­port for fur­ther Her­it­age Lot­tery Fund­ing to extend the pro­ject wider across the Park. There is now a web­site https://www.cairngormscapercaillie.scot/ which provides use­ful back­ground to the project.

1. Cairngorms Trust

With LEAD­ER com­ing to an end in 2020, the Cairngorms LAG – with sup­port from the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity (CNPA) – has estab­lished a new approach to so that funds will still be avail­able and can be dis­trib­uted effect­ively to worthy causes and pro­jects in the Park. Hence the estab­lish­ment in 2016 of the Cairngorms Trust as a registered charity.

From 2019 onwards the Trust will fun­draise for two key pro­jects selec­ted by the Trust’s board, as part of a wider approach to seek­ing char­it­able dona­tions and fund­ing activ­it­ies deliv­er­ing pub­lic bene­fit in the Cairngorms. To this end it was announced in May that the Boat of Garten Wild­life Group and the Kin­gussie Path Net­work Improve­ment Pro­ject are the first two Cairngorms Trust Cam­paign Projects.

The Cairngorms Trust will be rais­ing funds through­out the Cairngorms Nation­al Park area for both of these deserving groups. Pro­jects are chosen on an annu­al basis by the Cairngorms Trust board of Trustees.

Dav­id Clyne Out­door Access Man­ager davidclyne@​cairngorms.​co.​uk