Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ùgh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Loc­al Out­door Access Forum

Held online on 13 Novem­ber 2024

Present:

• Adam Streeter-Smith (AQSS) — Park Authority
• Ben Dol­phin (BD) — LOAF
• Ben Oliv­er Jones (BOJ) — LOAF
• Colin Cad­den (CC) — LOAF
• Gant Moir (GM) — Park Authority
• John Gri­er­son (JG) — LOAF (Chair)
• Mark John­ston (MJ) — LOAF
• Patsy Richards (PR) — LOAF
• Sara Den­ner (minutes) — Park Authority
• Sarah Lawth­er (SL) — Park Authority
• Tre­vor Thorn­ley (TT) — LOAF
• Vicky Hilton (VH) — Park Authority

Apo­lo­gies:

• Hil­ary Quick (Con­nec­tion issues)

Wel­come & Introductions

Dis­cussed JG- Wel­comed group and mem­bers intro­duced them­selves. Action

Minutes of last meet­ing – approv­al and mat­ters arising not oth­er­wise appear­ing on agenda.

Dis­cussed JG- Minutes of the last meet­ing approved and pre­vi­ous actions discussed.

• AQSS- To send MJ a NatureScot cli­mate report-ACTIONED
• AQSS- To share sum­mary case work log pri­or to meet­ings — AQSS chosen not to at this meet­ing, as oppor­tune to do so at meet­ing in Feb­ru­ary. Action

Paper 1‑Fire Man­age­ment consultation

Dis­cussed

• GM- Dis­cussed ​‘Sea­son­al fire man­age­ment bylaw’ con­sulta­tion, provided back­ground and reas­on for con­sulta­tion and respon­ded to a vari­ety of quer­ies. There was dis­cus­sion involving the level of fine, the need for wide­spread mes­saging and the dif­fi­culty in cap­tur­ing all the inform­a­tion in an unam­bigu­ous man­ner. GM- Will seek clar­ity on inclu­sion of fire­works vs pyro­tech­nics in the defin­i­tions, the defin­i­tion of a fire­place, the addi­tion of the word­ing ​‘hot coals’ and if Police Officers should be referred to in rela­tion to powers.
• AQSS- Reminded that LOAF mem­bers could respond to any con­sulta­tion on an indi­vidu­al basis. LOAF mem­bers agreed that in gen­er­al as a group they were sup­port­ive of the bylaw word­ing. Action GM

Paper 2 – Act­ive Cairngorms Action Plan deliv­ery update

Dis­cussed AQSS- Updated group on Act­ive Cairngorms Action Plan. Paper going to Board next week. Action Plan approved last Decem­ber but there has been a delay in devel­op­ing the print­ing design, will send to the group when com­plete. Feed­back from Man­aging for Vis­it­ors reports good engage­ments across the Park, fire trends ongo­ing, and increase in camper­vans, but rel­at­ively man­age­able although still busy. Col­lab­or­a­tion, rela­tion­ships and Comms work­ing well and less anti-social incid­ents repor­ted. There was dis­cus­sion regard­ing the inclu­sion of geo­graph­ic­al goals in the Plan which AQSS will explore fur­ther. Action AQSS

Paper 3- Core Paths Plan Review

Dis­cussed VH- Explained that ori­gin­al Core Path Review was in 2010, which was updated in 2015. Aware that some paths need to be amended due to diver­sion and plan­ning, some new paths will be des­ig­nated whilst oth­ers may be mod­i­fied or declas­si­fied. Cla­ri­fied vari­ous stages of devel­op­ing the Core Path Plan Review and likely times­cale. LOAF mem­bers will be asked to con­sider over­view in Novem­ber 2025, with Autumn 2026 likely to be the end date. Group mem­bers dis­cussed and sought cla­ri­fic­a­tion on a few points. Action

Verbal- LOAF mem­ber­ship update

Dis­cussed AQSS- Explained that some exist­ing mem­bers are strug­gling to attend meet­ings. Sug­ges­ted that JG writes to those con­cerned to enquire if still wish­ing to be involved, and if not, new mem­bers can be invited, ideally from sim­il­ar back­ground and expert­ise. Also sug­ges­ted that the spread of mem­ber­ship should be as wide as pos­sible and that there is an oppor­tun­ity for a mem­ber work­ing in land man­age­ment sec­tor to join the group. Group agreed and JG will con­tact rel­ev­ant mem­bers. Action JG

Paper 4- Update and for­ward look

• AQSS- Advised group that Charter Chest path has been form­ally opened and has received pos­it­ive feed­back so far. There are still a few snag­ging items to address, and sig­nage is cur­rently being developed. Look­ing to install people counter and add to core path network.
• AQSS- Sig­nage on Spey­side Way being upgraded.
• AQSS- Devel­op­ing a tender to look at gates on Spey­side Way, with aim to either replace broken ones or remove alto­geth­er where possible.
• AQSS- In col­lab­or­a­tion with caper­cail­lie pro­ject, the dog walk­ing intern has been work­ing with the Boat of Garten com­munity and devel­op­ing resources.
• AQSS- Con­sult­ant con­sidered the Old Log­ging Way and iden­ti­fied work required to make improve­ments. These included the sec­tion oppos­ite Coylumbridge Hotel and either end of sec­tion at Rothiemurchus camp­site and Inver­druie. Anti­cip­ate next sec­tion will be Bad­aguish, in dis­cus­sion with FLS as it may require plan­ning and felling, plus the road cross­ing near the Clay Pigeon Shoot­ing Centre.

AOCB

BD- Repor­ted that Mar Lodge vis­it­or num­bers up 5% this year com­pared to last year, and overnight motorhomes up 29% from 2023, which in turn is up 74% from 2022.

Date of next meeting

• AQSS- Will put out a Doodle Poll to determ­ine dates for year, but next meet­ing likely to be end of February/​early March 2025. Also keen to have site vis­it and in per­son meet­ing in summer.

Meet­ing ended 20.14