Draft Minutes of the Board Meeting

Held at Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity office, Grant­own on Spey

In per­son

24 March 2023 at 09.30am

Present

Xan­der McDade (Con­vener) Janet Hunter (Deputy Con­vener) Dr Fiona McLean Wil­lie Mun­ro Rus­sell Jones John Kirk Bill Lob­ban Elean­or Mack­in­tosh Doug McAdam Geva Blackett

Wil­lie McK­enna Kenny Deans Paul Gibb Anne Rae Mac­don­ald Lauren Mac­Cal­lum Derek Ross Ann Ross

In Attend­ance

Grant Moir, CEO Dav­id Camer­on, Dir­ect­or of Cor­por­ate Ser­vices & Deputy CEO Mur­ray Fer­guson, Dir­ect­or of Plan­ning & Place Andy Ford, Dir­ect­or of Nature & Cli­mate Change Gav­in Miles, Head of Stra­tegic Plan­ning Kate Christie, Head of Organ­isa­tion­al Devel­op­ment Louise Allen, Head of Fin­ance and Cor­por­ate Oper­a­tions Mari­aan Pita, Exec­ut­ive Sup­port Man­ager Oliv­er Dav­ies, Head of Com­mu­nic­a­tions Kar­en Arch­er, Press and Com­mu­nic­a­tions Officer Catri­ona Strang, Clerk to the Board James Ade, Clerk to the Board

Apo­lo­gies

Dr Gaen­er Rodger Chris Beattie

Wel­come and introduction

1. Xan­der McDade, the Board Con­vener, wel­comed every­one to the meet­ing includ­ing new mem­bers Kenny Deans, Lauren Mac­Cal­lum & Paul Gibb. The Con­vener con­grat­u­lated the new board mem­bers on their suc­cess in the elec­tions to the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity board and recor­ded his thanks on behalf of the board to the pre­vi­ous elec­ted mem­bers for their work on behalf of the Park Author­ity. Apo­lo­gies recor­ded above were noted.

Declar­a­tions of interest

1. There were no declar­a­tions of Interest.

Minutes from Pre­vi­ous Meeting

1. The draft minutes of the meet­ing held on 25 Novem­ber 2022 were agreed with no amendments.

Mat­ter­ing arising from pre­vi­ous meeting

1. The Board Con­vener provided an update on the action points from 25 Novem­ber 2022 minutes:

   a) Para 18i: Improve cross-ref­er­en­cing to trans­port gen­er­ally and the Nation­al Strategy for Eco­nom­ic Trans­form­a­tion in Annex 3 — Com­plete b) Para 18ii: Devel­op approach for the Act­ive Cairngorms Action Plan devel­op­ment and over­sight that com­ple­ments the Tour­ism Action Plan — Com­plete c) Para 22i: The policy regard­ing wind­farms with­in the NPF4 needs to be con­sidered in apprais­ing a new Nation­al Park where there are exist­ing wind farms — Com­plete d) Para 22ii: Para 8 should be reworded and include cul­ture her­it­age, nature recov­ery, cli­mate crisis and just trans­ition — Com­plete e) Para 22iii: Para 22 remove ref­er­ence to people in and out with the Cairngorms Nation­al Park — Com­plete f) Para 26i: High­light reas­on why deer man­age­ment needs to be fun­ded — Complete

CEO Report

1. Grant Moir, Chief Exec­ut­ive, intro­duced Paper 1 and high­lighted to Board Mem­bers the main stra­tegic areas of work that are being dir­ec­ted by Man­age­ment Team. These are areas where sig­ni­fic­ant staff resources are being dir­ec­ted to deliv­er with part­ners the aspir­a­tions of the Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan.

2. The Board con­sidered the detail in the Paper and dis­cus­sions took place around the following:

   a) A Mem­ber ques­tioned wheth­er there are any cost implic­a­tions for Cairngorms Nation­al Park for rerout­ing part of the Brae­mar to Kei­loch path. Mur­ray Fer­guson, Dir­ect­or of Plan­ning & Place, respon­ded that there may be cost implic­a­tions but will be man­age­able with­in the budget pro­vi­sions pro­posed for next year. b) Mem­bers raised con­cerns around the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Authority’s efforts to diver­si­fy the Park’s eco­nomy from the tra­di­tion­al sec­tors and the need for an inward invest­ment strategy. Dir­ect­or of Plan­ning & Place cla­ri­fied that the eco­nom­ic steer­ing group have had good dis­cus­sion about these issues and are work­ing on them through the devel­op­ment of the Well­being Eco­nomy Action Plan. A lot of the solu­tions rely on good digit­al con­nectiv­ity and the Park Author­ity still has a digit­al con­nectiv­ity steer­ing group who help to over­see the improve­ment of con­nec­tions to more remote areas. The Con­vener added that he will put the idea of an inward invest­ment strategy to High­lands and Islands Enter­prise to encour­age high paid jobs with­in the Park. c) Mem­bers quer­ied what work was being car­ried out to help loc­al busi­nesses and engage with land­lords to help get empty units occu­pied. The Con­vener high­lighted work that has been car­ried out over the past few years in which staff and board mem­bers went out into the com­munity and spoke to around 100 busi­nesses. From this, the eco­nom­ic action steer­ing group was formed to facil­it­ate com­mu­nic­a­tion with stake­hold­ers. A lot of these issues sit with coun­cils or High­lands and Islands Enter­prise rather than the Park Author­ity. d) A Mem­ber asked what the bene­fits of liv­ing in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park are and what can be offered to young people after school. The Con­vener acknow­ledged that there are dif­fer­ences to liv­ing with­in and out­side the Park but emphas­ised the amount of invest­ment that has been made in the Park through fund­ing due to the engage­ment of the Park Author­ity, includ­ing provid­ing job oppor­tun­it­ies for young people. Addi­tion­ally, there has been a sig­ni­fic­ant change with people mov­ing back into the park due to hybrid work­ing, which we are work­ing on to pro­mote through selling the vis­ion of liv­ing in the Park. The CEO added that there are sig­ni­fic­ant bene­fits of liv­ing with­in the Nation­al Park and that there has been sig­ni­fic­ant extra invest­ment in infra­struc­ture, com­munity devel­op­ment, act­ive travel, nature res­tor­a­tion since the Park’s incep­tion. While there are still issues around hous­ing, the Park Author­ity is work­ing on this, with the LDP hav­ing 45% afford­able hous­ing in four key set­tle­ments (well above the High­lands aver­age) and the new NPPP aim­ing for 75%. e) A Mem­ber raised that fund­ing and invest­ment needs to be more spread through­out the Park as res­id­ents in Don­side are feel­ing neg­lected. f) A Mem­ber sug­ges­ted that where mat­ters dir­ectly relate to the longer term nation­al policy, the Board should con­sider wheth­er they are oper­a­tion­al or have a stra­tegic ele­ment for the Board to have fur­ther input. The Con­vener respon­ded that when try­ing to get that bal­ance right between oper­a­tion­al versus stra­tegic, a call needs to be made on wheth­er it is new inform­a­tion or wheth­er it has already been covered by pre­vi­ously agreed stra­tegic object­ives and policy. g) A Mem­ber sought assur­ances that the wild­cat releases are not hap­pen­ing in caper­cail­lie con­ser­va­tion areas and ques­tioned why the Nation­al Park has been put for­ward as the rein­tro­duc­tion cham­pi­on on the beaver intro­duc­tions in some com­mu­nic­a­tions. Andy Ford, Dir­ect­or of Nature & Cli­mate Change, reas­sured that a site spe­cif­ic hab­it­at risk assess­ment has been car­ried out by NatureScot and there would be little or no risk to the caper­cail­lie pop­u­la­tions. Addi­tion­ally, the Nation­al Park has led applic­a­tion pro­cess on the beaver rein­tro­duc­tions and have had pos­it­ive com­munity feedback.

3. The Board noted the Paper. The Con­vener thanked the Chief Exec­ut­ive and all the staff on behalf of the Board.

4. Action Points Arising: i. Dir­ect­or of Plan­ning & Place to speak to Elean­or Mack­in­tosh and Geva Black­ett about poten­tial pro­jects in the short and long term in the Don­side area of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park – Closed.

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Cor­por­ate Plan 2023 – 2027

1. Grant Moir, Chief Exec­ut­ive, intro­duced Paper 2 set­ting out the pro­posed cor­por­ate plan for the next four years to 31 March 2027.

2. The Board con­sidered the detail in the Paper and dis­cus­sions took place around the following:

   a) Mem­bers dis­cussed wheth­er there was scope in the cor­por­ate plan to hold board meet­ings else­where in the Park. The Con­vener raised that some mem­bers com­plain about in per­son board meet­ings and the Board needs to decide what com­bin­a­tion of in per­son, hybrid and online meet­ings they desire. The Con­vener added that hold­ing board meet­ings in per­son else­where in the Park makes the Board vis­ible to com­munit­ies and can help to show­case the work being done for the bene­fit of the Nation­al Park. The CEO informed the Board that the Author­ity has pur­chased new audio visu­al and record­ing kit so meet­ings can be livestreamed from any­where with a good inter­net con­nec­tion. b) A Mem­ber sought assur­ance that cul­tur­al her­it­age net­work will not get watered down as part of the Well­being Eco­nomy Action Plan, as cul­tur­al her­it­age is in the Park’s first aim. The CEO and Mur­ray Fer­guson, Dir­ect­or of Plan­ning & Place gave assur­ances that the cul­tur­al her­it­age net­work will not get watered down. c) A Mem­ber would like fol­low­ing points added to the paper: review for sup­port mech­an­isms for farm­ing and cla­ri­fic­a­tion that sup­port is for all estates, not just moor­land. The CEO was happy to add a point about review for farm­ing support.t The CEO high­lighted that sup­port for wild­life estates is in the Park Plan. d) A Mem­ber raised con­cerns around a Scot­tish Minister’s com­ments refer­ring to the Park as a use­ful nation­al tool to reach net zero goals and ques­tioned wheth­er this will affect the Park’s eco­nomy. The CEO respon­ded that act­ing as a car­bon sink will gen­er­ate jobs in the loc­al area as part of the over­all nation­al efforts to reach net zero. For instance, changes like shuttle bus ser­vices, will help loc­al busi­nesses, res­id­ents and tour­ists, help­ing the eco­nomy. Anoth­er example would be jobs cre­ated to carry out peat­land restoration.

3. The Board approved the CNPA Cor­por­ate Plan for 2023 — 2027 for sub­mis­sion to Scot­tish Government.

4. Action Points Arising: i. The CEO to add a review for sup­port mech­an­isms for farm­ing to the paper- Closed.

Break 11.05am — 11.17am

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity 2023/2024 Budget and Oper­a­tion­al Plan

1. Dav­id Camer­on, Dir­ect­or of Cor­por­ate Ser­vices and Deputy CEO, intro­duced Paper 3 and high­lighted increase in grants from Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment. He out­lined that des­pite the year ahead being a year of trans­ition in extern­ally fun­ded pro­grammes, this was the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Authority’s largest ever budget.

2. The Board con­sidered the detail in the Paper and dis­cus­sions took place around the following:

   a) A Mem­ber ques­tioned wheth­er there was pro­vi­sion in the budget for expenses for more in per­son meet­ings. The Dir­ect­or of Cor­por­ate Ser­vices respon­ded that while there is not spe­cif­ic pro­vi­sion for an upturn of in per­son meet­ings, he did not expect it to be a sig­ni­fic­ant aspect of the budget­ary man­age­ment pro­cess over the course of the year. b) A Mem­ber asked for cla­ri­fic­a­tion on the sig­ni­fic­ance of the ​‘Nation­al Park Grant in Aid — Vis­it­or Man­age­ment’ hav­ing £0 of fund­ing for 2023/2024. The Dir­ect­or of Cor­por­ate Ser­vices cla­ri­fied that the spe­cif­ic grant awar­ded in ²⁰²²⁄₂₃ does not exist any­more as it came from a spe­cif­ic part of gov­ern­ment, so there is a change in how the grant in aid is set out. Grant through the main Nation­al Parks budget line now recog­nised the Park Authority’s vis­it­or man­age­ment activ­it­ies. c) Mem­bers high­lighted the increase in budget since the Park’s incep­tion and cred­ited the staff for their hard work on increas­ing this.

3. The Board approved the Cairngorms NPA budget and oper­a­tion­al plan for ²⁰²³⁄₂₄.

4. Action Points Arising: None

Notice of Forth­com­ing Board Elec­tion of Con­vener, Deputy Con­vener and Com­mit­tee Chairs and Stand­ing Orders Considerations

1. Dav­id Camer­on, Dir­ect­or of Cor­por­ate Ser­vices, intro­duced Paper 4 noti­fy­ing the Board of the upcom­ing elec­tions and high­light­ing the pro­posed changes to Stand­ing Orders.

2. The Board con­sidered the Paper and dis­cus­sions took place around the following:

   a) The Con­vener recom­men­ded sus­pend­ing busi­ness con­tinu­ity meas­ures and redu­cing quor­um to 50% plus one of the num­ber of appoin­ted mem­bers to board and com­mit­tees. b) Mem­bers expressed their keen­ness in there being flex­ib­il­ity in how the vote is con­duc­ted to allow all mem­bers to be able to vote. While there was a range of ideas of how this could and should be achieved, it was agreed the Dir­ect­or of Cor­por­ate Ser­vices would come back with a paper to present to the Board on pos­sible vot­ing arrangements.

3. The Board respon­ded to the Notice of Forth­com­ing Board Elec­tion of Con­vener, Deputy Con­vener and Com­mit­tees in the fol­low­ing way:

   a) Agreed the full sus­pen­sion of all busi­ness con­tinu­ity adapt­a­tions to Stand­ing Orders and an imme­di­ate return to adop­ted Stand­ing Orders, with the excep­tion of the con­tinu­ing pro­vi­sion to hold elec­tions by elec­tron­ic or postal means and without the need for a face to face meet­ing. b) Noted the Inten­tion to bring for­ward pro­posed amend­ments to Stand­ing Orders regard­ing pro­vi­sions on quor­um for meet­ings at the next board meet­ing. c) Rejec­ted arrange­ments for the elec­tion of the Board Con­vener and Board Deputy Con­vener at the next sched­uled form­al board meet­ing on 23 June, to be con­duc­ted in accord­ance with agreed Stand­ing Orders and agreed that a fur­ther paper set­ting out revised options be brought for­ward. d) Rejec­ted pro­posed arrange­ments for elec­tions of Com­mit­tee Chairs as set out in this paper and agreed that a fur­ther paper set­ting out revised options be brought forward.

4. Action Points Arising: i. Dir­ect­or of Cor­por­ate Ser­vices to write paper present­ing pos­sible vot­ing arrange­ments for forth­com­ing elections.

AOCB

1. The Con­vener noted that it was last Board meet­ing of Anne Rae Mac­don­ald and Wil­lie Mun­ro, thank­ing them for their con­tri­bu­tions over the past four and a half years.

Date of Next Meeting

1. The date of the next meet­ing is Fri­day 23 June in person.

Motion to move to a con­fid­en­tial minute for reas­ons of pro­tect­ing leg­al priv­ilege was agreed.

Pub­lic ses­sion closed at 12.00 noon.