CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHORITY

DRAFT MINUTES OF THE BOARD MEETING

held by telephone/​video con­fer­ence on Fri­day 27^th Novem­ber 2020 at 11.15am

PRESENT (By video con­fer­en­cing unless stated otherwise)

• Xan­der McDade (Con­vener)
• Car­o­lyn Cad­dick (Deputy Convener)
• Geva Black­ett
• Peter Argyle
• Deirdre Fal­con­er
• Pippa Had­ley
• Janet Hunter
• John Kirk
• John Lath­am (from CEO report)
• Douglas McAdam
• Elean­or Mackintosh
• Wil­lie McKenna
• Ian McLar­en (from paper 3)
• Dr Fiona McLean
• Wil­li­am Munro
• Anne Rae Macdonald
• Dr Gaen­er Rodger
• Derek Ross
• Judith Webb

In Attend­ance:

• Grant Moir, Chief Executive
• Dav­id Camer­on, Dir­ect­or of Cor­por­ate Services
• Mur­ray Fer­guson, Dir­ect­or of Plan­ning & Rur­al Development
• Dr Peter May­hew, Dir­ect­or of Con­ser­va­tion & Vis­it­or Experience
• Gav­in Miles, Head of Plan­ning & Communities
• Peter Crane, Head of Vis­it­or Services
• Alix Hark­ness, Clerk to the Board

Apo­lo­gies: Noted Ian McLar­en and John Lath­am may be late joining.

Wel­come and Introduction

1. Xan­der McDade the Con­vener, wel­comed every­one to the meeting.
2. Apo­lo­gies were noted.

Minutes of Last Meet­ings held – for approval

1. The draft Minutes of the last meet­ing held on 11^th Septem­ber 2020 were agreed with no amendments.
2. The draft minutes of the last meet­ing held on 13^th Novem­ber 2020 were agreed with no amendments.
3. Mem­bers noted due to nature of a meet­ing held by video con­fer­ence, a mem­ber may be seen as depart­ing when it may only be con­nec­tion issues. Mem­bers agreed where pos­sible this be noted in the minutes when it happens.
4. Cla­ri­fic­a­tion on the situ­ation in Brae­mar with the Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan (LDP). CEO stated that the LDP was sub­mit­ted as per board meet­ing with reporter’s recom­mend­a­tions included.

Mat­ters Arising

1. The Con­vener provided an update on the Action points from the pre­cious minutes: a) Septem­ber Minutes — Action Point at Para 12 (i) – Closed – Short­l­ist for Nature of Scot­land Awards to be cir­cu­lated. b) Septem­ber Minutes — Action Point at Para 12 (ii) – Closed – River Res­tor­a­tion award win­ner video to be cir­cu­lated. c) Septem­ber Minutes — Action Point at Para 16 (i) – in Hand – Dir­ect­or of Plan­ning & Rur­al Devel­op­ment to raise the issue of busi­ness sat­is­fac­tion at the next Cairngorms Eco­nom­ic For­um. d) Septem­ber Minutes — Action Point at Para 12 (ii) – Closed –. Risks A14, A19 and A21 alto­geth­er into one as they have the com­mon theme of repu­ta­tion­al risk and bring the Stra­tegic Risk Register back to the Audit and Risk Com­mit­tee (ARC) at their March 2021 meet­ing. The Chief Exec­ut­ive con­firmed this was dis­cussed at ARC meet­ing this morn­ing, ahead of sched­ule. e) Septem­ber Minutes — Action Point at Para 20 (i) – Closed – Loc­al Author­ity nom­in­ated Board mem­bers con­ver­sa­tions with their respect­ive Edu­ca­tion Author­it­ies regard­ing encour­aging schools to teach the mes­sage of tak­ing lit­ter home in order to help com­bat cli­mate change. f) Septem­ber Minutes — Action Point at Para 20 (ii) – In hand – CEO to pick up the remov­al of lit­ter bins from laybys with Loc­al Author­it­ies as part of wider vis­it­or man­age­ment dis­cus­sions. g) Septem­ber Minutes — Action Point at Para 20 (iii) – Open – CEO to encour­age Nation­al Parks UK to encour­age big super­mar­ket chains to dis­trib­ute a respons­ible camp­ing leaf­let with every tent pur­chase. The CEO updated there had not had been an oppor­tun­ity yet, but this will be raised at first oppor­tun­ity. h) Septem­ber Minutes — Action Point at Para 26 (i) – Closed – CEO to cir­cu­late to the Board NatureScot new shared approaches around con­ser­va­tion and spe­cies man­age­ment. i) Septem­ber Minutes — Action Point at Para 26 (ii) – Closed – Deirdre Fal­con­er to provide CEO with grid ref­er­ence of Spey­side Way sec­tion at Drumguish. The mem­ber con­firmed this had been sent to officers and completed.

2. Action Points Arising: None

Declar­a­tions of Interest

1. The Con­vener invited Declar­a­tions of interest.
2. Pippa Had­ley – noted as a point of trans­par­ency her role on the Board of Badenoch of Great Place pro­ject giv­en the men­tion of this pro­ject in papers. Pippa con­firmed there was no con­flict of interest caused by this role.

CEO Report & Con­vener Update (Paper 1)

1. Grant Moir, Chief Exec­ut­ive, intro­duced Paper I which high­lights the main stra­tegic work streams that are being dir­ec­ted by Man­age­ment Team. CEO explained that these are areas where sig­ni­fic­ant staff resources are being dir­ec­ted to deliv­er Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan pri­or­it­ies. He high­lighted the fol­low­ing areas: a) Tomin­toul and Glen­liv­et Devel­op­ment Trust have made land fund pur­chase of old school site b) Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan sub­mit­ted to Min­is­ters this week, they have 28 days to con­sider that. c) Rur­al tour­ism infra­struc­ture fund: Glen­more work is being taken for­ward d) Busi­ness baro­met­er shows an increase in CNPA sup­port in last quarter

2. The Board con­sidered the detail in the Paper and dis­cus­sions took place around the fol­low­ing: a) Mem­bers asked why Forest and Land Scot­land have fenced off a sec­tion In Glen­more? The CEO would look into this and con­tact FLS. b) Good to see all the stake­hold­er engage­ment in the last quarter, with mem­bers not­ing the massive effort under­taken and express­ing their con­grat­u­la­tions and thanks to the officer group for the extra work involved. c) The Cairngorms Busi­ness Baro­met­er made for sober read­ing. d) Not­ing wood­land expan­sion tar­gets are pro­gress­ing well, mem­bers asked wheth­er there remained much interest at the moment in wood­land expan­sion? The CEO stated that there was a lot of interest and that the 1,000 ha tar­get per annum was being achieved. The CEO repor­ted the cli­mate change plan update from Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment (SG) is com­ing out in the next few weeks which will set out the Scot­land wide tar­gets are at a nation­al level for wood­land and that the next NPPP will have to reflect these. e) Mem­bers acknow­ledged the busi­ness baro­met­er and per­cep­tion of Cairngorms NPA, in terms of our response to post lock­down vis­it­or man­age­ment. Mem­bers noted it is import­ant to keep up momentum, and to main­tain the sense of pos­it­iv­ity of busi­nesses towards us and the work we have done. f) Good to see the work of the sea­son­al rangers and the oth­er ranger ser­vices with­in the Park. g) Good to see the work on Caper­cail­lie. Are there going to be changes to the Pro­ject Board now that it is a park-wide pro­ject. Dir­ect­or for Con­ser­va­tion stated that the board has been expan­ded and recently invited an eco­nom­ic expert to join. h) Mem­bers were giv­en clar­ity on the loc­a­tion of the Peat­land res­tor­a­tion works repor­ted in the paper. i) How can we build on the leg­acy of Moun­tain and the People pro­ject? Sig­ni­fic­ant leg­acy from the pro­ject around infra­struc­ture, skills and volun­teers. The CEO agreed there is a need to link this to Volun­teer Cairngorms and main­tain aware­ness of the main­ten­ance require­ments and respons­ib­il­it­ies. j) Mem­bers recog­nised the breath and volume of work giv­en chal­lenges of this year and expressed their thanks to staff for com­mit­ment and effort. The Con­vener noted he planned to put a Christ­mas note to staff from the Board record­ing thanks.

3. The Board noted the Paper.

4. Action Points Arising: i. CEO to enquire into fen­cing in Glen­more area with FLS. ii. Con­vener note to staff for breadth of work and achieve­ments dur­ing lockdown.

Cairngorms Green Recov­ery Plan Update (Paper 2)

1. Grant Moir, CEO intro­duced Paper 2 present­ing an update on the cur­rent pos­i­tion of the Green Recov­ery Plan and show­ing pro­gress of the plan.
2. The Board con­sidered the detail in the Paper and dis­cus­sions took place around the fol­low­ing: a) Geva Black­ett declared as a mat­ter of trans­par­ency as her hus­band was lead­ing on one of the pro­jects that received fund­ing. b) The Con­vener stated that this was a good example a piece of work that didn’t exist before April, and has already star­ted deliv­er­ing through­out com­munit­ies with­in 4 months with sig­ni­fic­ant funding.

3. The Board noted the pro­gress being made on the Green Recov­ery Plan.

4. Action Points Arising: None

Cairngorms Vis­it­or Man­age­ment Review (Paper 3)

1. Grant Moir, CEO and Pete Crane, Head of Vis­it­or Ser­vices presen­ted the end of sea­son review look­ing at the vis­it­or man­age­ment work that has been under­taken in the Park this sum­mer and also look­ing at the work to be car­ried out this winter.

2. The Board con­sidered the detail in the Paper and dis­cus­sions took place around the fol­low­ing: a) Has an end of sea­son review been held with part­ner organ­isa­tions and has any spe­cif­ic feed­back been received from land man­agers? The CEO has recently atten­ded SLE train­ing event and the feed­back was over­all really pos­it­ive. There are chal­lenges in cer­tain places where the solu­tions are more dif­fi­cult and may take longer to imple­ment. Good engage­ment with estates over­all. b) Thanks for the work over sum­mer. What are the plans for the winter as if there is snow and people can­not travel to Europe it will get very busy at key sites in the Park? The CEO is hav­ing a spe­cif­ic meet­ing with Cairngorms Moun­tain (CMSL) and will sup­port the Police and Loc­al Author­it­ies if issues arise. A mem­ber asked for this to be dis­cussed at the next Cairngorms Tour­ism Emer­gency Response Group meet­ing. This was agreed. c) Need for con­sist­ent mes­sages and sig­nage as we go for­ward into next tour­ism sea­son. The CEO stated that this is being taken for­ward at a nation­al level and loc­ally to get con­sist­ent approach. d) Are we look­ing at the issues around camper­vans and giv­ing mes­sages of the right thing to do? The CEO stated that the Green Recov­ery Fund was sup­port­ing CBP to look at help­ing to provide more inform­a­tion on exist­ing infra­struc­ture. CNPA is look­ing at where to sup­port new infra­struc­ture with com­munit­ies and busi­nesses. e) There has been dam­age to trees and areas of land in the Park and there has been an increase in envir­on­ment­al crime. Has this fed through into increased wild­life crime? The CEO will look into this. f) Vis­it­or per­cep­tion of toi­lets and the facil­it­ies avail­able is cru­cial going for­ward. The CEO stated that toi­lets are cru­cial and that the qual­ity of basic infra­struc­ture is key going for­ward. g) Is there pres­sure on foot­paths and are paths being eroded as people step off the path for social dis­tan­cing? CEO stated that in August, accord­ing to path coun­ters, we saw the biggest recor­ded usage and we will need to look at main­ten­ance issues across the Park’s core path net­work. h) There has been an increase in enquires to CNPA as the access author­ity. Are we able to keep up with these? Head of Vis­it­or Ser­vices said that the team is able to cope. i) Point made about new winter vis­it­ors and ski­ing and wider need for vis­it­or man­age­ment mes­sages around this. j) Import­ance of mes­saging and ensur­ing that it reflects what is hap­pen­ing on the ground. The CEO took mem­bers through the work that is hap­pen­ing on vis­it­or man­age­ment plans with stake­hold­ers build­ing on the great work done this year. k) We should be get­ting excited about the level of vis­it­ors com­ing to the Park and embrace the pos­sib­il­it­ies and make sure we have the right infra­struc­ture. l) CEO was asked about ranger pro­vi­sion over the winter. The CEO stated that two rangers were being kept on by the CNPA to pre­pare for the next ​‘sea­son’. The CEO was also asked about the estab­lish­ment of a per­man­ent CNPA Ranger Ser­vice and replied that this was being taken for­ward but was depend­ent on budget set­tle­ment in January.

3. The Board noted the update.

4. Action Point Arising: i. CEO to look at level of wild­life crime in the Park and wheth­er it increased in 2020.

Budget & Oper­a­tion­al Plan Review (Paper 4)

1. Dav­id Camer­on, Dir­ect­or of Cor­por­ate Ser­vices, intro­duced Paper 4 which presents a second review of the Authority’s fin­an­cial pos­i­tion for ²⁰²⁰⁄₂₁ in light of the impacts of COVID19 affect­ing the Author­ity since com­mence­ment of the fin­an­cial year, fol­low­ing the first such review con­sidered by the Board at its meet­ing of 12 June. He added that the paper fol­lows con­sid­er­a­tion of these mat­ters by the Fin­ance and Deliv­ery Com­mit­tee at its meet­ing of 13 Novem­ber 2020.

2. The Board con­sidered the detail in the Paper and dis­cus­sions took place around the fol­low­ing: a) Con­grat­u­la­tions to all officers for man­aging budgets in this chal­len­ging year. Mem­bers noted Fin­ance and Deliv­ery Com­mit­tee looked at this 2 weeks ago, and was pleased to agree with the real­loc­a­tion of £40k to vis­it­or man­age­ment infra­struc­ture. b) Are we con­fid­ent that this fund­ing can be spent in ²⁰⁄₂₁ and what are the pre­par­a­tions for ²¹⁄₂₂? Dir­ect­or of Cor­por­ate Ser­vices stated that he was con­fid­ent that the infra­struc­ture pro­jects were in place and that good plans were being developed for next fin­an­cial year. Next year’s plans will be incor­por­ated in the budget to be developed for March 21 board meet­ing. c) How were these pro­jects being developed? CEO stated that inform­a­tion had been sought from part­ners on pro­jects to take for­ward, includ­ing estates, through vis­it­or man­age­ment groups. d) Dir­ect­or of Cor­por­ate Ser­vices was asked for more inform­a­tion on the Green Recov­ery Grants and the flex­ib­il­ity around that. The Dir­ect­or stated that mak­ing fur­ther awards of funds to sup­port Green Recov­ery Grants to the Cairngorms Trust provides use­ful flex­ib­il­ity and allows the Trust to sup­port the poten­tial for green recov­ery grants across fin­an­cial years, into ²¹⁄₂₂.

3. The Board: a) Con­sidered the fin­an­cial pos­i­tion of the Author­ity presen­ted; b) Agreed alloc­a­tion of avail­able £40,000 to sup­port vis­it­or man­age­ment and inform­a­tion infra­struc­ture invest­ment in sup­port of the 2021 vis­it­or man­age­ment sea­son; c) Agreed that no fur­ther fin­an­cial real­loc­a­tions are appro­pri­ate at this point based on the fin­an­cial mon­it­or­ing pos­i­tion; d) Agreed the prin­ciple of util­ising funds which may become avail­able near­er the end of the fin­an­cial year to sup­port a fur­ther round of Green Recov­ery Grants work­ing with the Cairngorms Trust.

4. Action Point Arising: None

Timetable for Pre­par­a­tion of Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan 2022 – 2027 (Paper 5)

1. Gav­in Miles, Head of Plan­ning & Com­munit­ies intro­duced Paper 5 which updates the Board on the indic­at­ive timetable for pre­par­a­tion of the next Cairngorms Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan for the peri­od 2022 – 2027.

2. The Board con­sidered the detail in the Paper and dis­cus­sions took place around the fol­low­ing: a) Query around when the CNPA will start enga­ging with part­ners and on what time­frame? Head of Plan­ning stated that shortly the CNPA will be going out to part­ners to start that pro­cess of col­lect­ing ideas around the NPPP. b) Need to make sure that the wider com­munity also have an oppor­tun­ity to feed into the pro­cess. CEO said that this was being looked at as part of engage­ment plan. The Con­vener stated that CNPA will be look­ing at innov­at­ive options through social media chan­nels and oth­er ways to get views from people. c) Are part­ners involved in the pro­ject team? Head of Plan­ning stated that they are look­ing at these issues and will engage with all part­ners over the next 6 – 7months.

3. The Board noted the indic­at­ive timetable for pre­par­a­tion of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan 2022 – 2027.

4. Action Point Arising: None

AOCB

1. It is pro­posed that the Con­vener of the Board sign the Edin­burgh Declar­a­tion on behalf of the Author­ity. The CEO stated that this will allow the CNPA to show lead­er­ship on biod­iversity and also show the work that is hap­pen­ing in the Cairngorms. Board agreed to this and that it was a good oppor­tun­ity for the CNPA to show lead­er­ship on this import­ant subject.
2. The Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment has asked for com­ments on the Shared Prosper­ity Fund. It is pro­posed that the Con­vener write on behalf of the Board to Min­is­ters set­ting out views around the import­ance of loc­ally focused funds such as LEAD­ER and wider com­munity led devel­op­ment fund­ing and the need to ensure funds take cog­nis­ance of the Nation­al Park as an appro­pri­ate admin­is­trat­ive bound­ary for design of future funds.
3. The Con­vener reminded Board mem­bers around board effect­ive­ness sur­vey and one to one devel­op­ment conversations.
4. A ques­tion was asked around ring-bark­ing nr Boat of Garten. Dir­ect­or of Con­ser­va­tion to phone mem­ber to discuss.
5. Action Points Arising: i. Con­vener to sign Edin­burgh Declar­a­tion on behalf of CNPA. ii. Con­vener to send let­ter to Scot­tish Min­sters on Shared Prosper­ity Fund

Date of Next Meeting

1. Next form­al Board meet­ing to be held on 12 March 2021.
2. The meet­ing con­cluded at 13.15.