240614Paper2PerfCtteeC2030Q124

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee Paper 2 14 June 2024 Q1 2024 Page 1 of 7

For dis­cus­sion

Title: Cairngorms 2030: Q1 2024 (Jan – Mar) Pre­pared by: Dav­id Clyne, Head of Cairngorms 2030

Pur­pose To update the Park Author­ity Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee on the risks under man­age­ment. This paper presents the peri­od from Janu­ary to March 2024 and the planned work to end June 2024.

Recom­mend­a­tions The Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee is asked to review the pro­gramme update report and note: a) The Park Author­ity and the Nation­al Lot­tery Her­it­age Fund have agreed and signed the 5‑year deliv­ery phase con­tract. b) The offi­cial start date of the five-year deliv­ery phase is 18 Janu­ary 2024. c) Scotland’s First Min­is­ter, Humza Yousaf, and Min­is­ter for Green Skills, Cir­cu­lar Eco­nomy and Biod­iversity, Lor­na Slater, offi­cially launched Cairngorms 2030 at Mar Lodge on 5 Feb­ru­ary 2024. d) Deliv­ery phase pro­ject plans and gov­ernance pro­ced­ures now in pro­gress. e) £3 mil­lion Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment Peat­land Res­tor­a­tion fund­ing secured for 2024 — 2025. f) Staff recruit­ment (phase 1) com­plete except for two posts (Com­mu­nic­a­tions Co-ordin­at­or and Green Fin­ance and Com­munity Wealth Officer).

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee Paper 2 14 June 2024 Q1 2024 Page 2 of 7

Per­form­ance Dash­board: Pro­gramme level | Per­form­ance Meas­ure | RAG status | Issue/​mitigation | | — -| — -| — -| | Pro­gramme risk pro­file | Green | Deliv­ery phase con­tract signed by Park Author­ity and NLHF.
Q1 2024 pro­gress reports sub­mit­ted to NLHF to sched­ule. | | Future fund­ing pro­file | Green | Match fund­ing pos­i­tion is being act­ively mon­itored with Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment and oth­er deliv­ery part­ners.
£3 mil­lion Peat­land res­tor­a­tion fund­ing secured for 2024 
Oth­er fund­ing sources required to deliv­er pro­gramme to be secured in 2024 (Trans­port, Nature Scot, HIE, LA). | | Fin­ance: impact on Park Author­ity budget man­age­ment | Green | No issues | | Pro­cure­ment | Green | No issues. | | Staff­ing | Green | Intern­al recruit­ment com­pleted.
Extern­al recruit­ment near com­ple­tion with one post to fill. All posts in place by end May 2024. | | Deliv­ery of Sus­trans fun­ded pro­jects | Amber | On-going chal­lenge align­ing NLHF and Sus­trans deliv­ery timescales. |

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee Paper 2 14 June 2024 Q1 2024 Page 3 of 7

Per­form­ance Over­view: Deliv­ery against stra­tegic expect­a­tions Offi­cial launch

1. The Park Author­ity and the Nation­al Lot­tery Her­it­age Fund have agreed and signed the 5‑year deliv­ery phase contract.
2. The offi­cial start date of the five-year deliv­ery phase is 18 Janu­ary 2024.
3. Scotland’s First Min­is­ter, Humza Yousaf, and Min­is­ter for Green Skills, Cir­cu­lar Eco­nomy and Biod­iversity, Lor­na Slater, offi­cially launched Cairngorms 2030 at Mar Lodge on 5 Feb­ru­ary 2024. Also in attend­ance were rep­res­ent­at­ives from the Nation­al Lot­tery Her­it­age Fund (NLHF) and two of our Juni­or Rangers.

Theme deliv­ery high­lights Restor­ing and enhan­cing landscapes

1. Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment con­firmed a cap­it­al budget alloc­a­tion of £3 mil­lion for peat­land work for the Park Author­ity, indic­at­ing strong sup­port for the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity (CNPA) pro­gramme and its key role with­in Cairngorms 2030.
2. Wood­land expan­sion scheme imple­ment­a­tion on track for Glen Fend­er (approved and onsite works com­menced)) and Dal­namein (sub­mit­ted for approv­al – out­come expect in May).
3. Nature recov­ery pro­ject is devel­op­ing pro­pos­al to estab­lish a com­munity-based col­lab­or­a­tion in deer man­age­ment to address agri­cul­tur­al dam­age, with ven­ison being used to sup­port com­munity mem­bers exper­i­en­cing food insecurity.

Empower­ment

1. Staff­ing almost at full complement
2. C2030 induc­tion and under­stand­ing of activ­ity plan and pro­gramme of work ongoing.
3. Under­stand­ing the syn­er­gies between pro­jects and meet­ing oth­er pro­ject officers underway.
4. Plan­ning for Q2 and ²⁰²⁴⁄₂₅ year ongo­ing, to ensure meet­ing over­all object­ives, tar­gets and key pri­or­it­ies with­in each pro­ject and over­all empower­ment theme.

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee Paper 2 14 June 2024 Q1 2024 Page 4 of 7

Trans­form­ing transport

1. Sus­trans Places for Every­one Fund­ing: 6 applic­a­tions (worth £1.3M in total) for design stage fund­ing sub­mit­ted to Places for Every­one (PfE) in Jan 24, decision imminent.
2. Pro­ject and staff resource plans have been reviewed and are ready for implementation.

Health and wellbeing

1. Pub­lic Health and the Out­doors — Increased levels of refer­rals from Grant­own and Aviemore GP Practices.
2. Out­door Demen­tia Resource Centre — 196 users par­ti­cip­at­ing in activ­ity pro­grammes this quarter.

Recruit­ment

1. In total 13 CNPA new posts will be cre­ated to deliv­er the pro­gramme, across three areas: com­munity engage­ment, nature-based solu­tions, and trans­port. 12 posts have now been suc­cess­fully recruited. C2030 Deliv­ery Phase Recruit­ment — 13 New posts (as at 16^th April 2024)

Post	Band	FTE	Name of Appointee	Sub­mit­ted Applic­a­tions	Intern­al or Extern­al Appointee	Employ­ment Start Date
Cyc­ling Devel­op­ment Officer	D	1	Pat Dou­glass	1	Intern­al	26.02.24
Com­munity Engage­ment Coordinator	C	1	Jo Rodgers	32	Extern­al	18.03.24
Com­munity Engage­ment Coordinator	C	1	Fi Thom­son	32	Extern­al	22.04.24
Know­ledge Exchange Coordinator	C	0.8	Chris Mack­ie	15	Extern­al	15.04.24
Sus­tain­able Trans­port Manager	E	1	Elean­or MacDonald	6	Extern­al	28.05.24
Sus­tain­able Trans­port Officer	D	1	Bo Mansell	6	Extern­al	22.05.24
Learn­ing Coordin­at­or (Cli­mate & Com­munity Arts)	C	1	James Ade	2	Intern­al	01.05.24
Com­munity Cli­mate Grants Coordinator	C	0.8	Catri­ona Strang	1	Intern­al	01.05.24
Com­munity Engage­ment Officer	D	1	Josie Slade	1	Intern­al	01.02.24
Nature Based Solu­tions Manager	E	0.8	Mat­thew Hawkins	3	Intern­al	01.02.24
Admin­is­tra­tion Officer	B	1	Dot Har­ris	1	Intern­al	01.04.24
Sus­tain­able Travel Beha­viours Officer	D	0.8	Anna Ronayne	1	Intern­al	01.03.24
Com­muni­tions Coordinator	C	1	TBC	TBC	Extern­al	TBC

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee Paper 2 14 June 2024 Q1 2024 Page 5 of 7

a) The fol­low­ing posts will be sched­uled for recruit­ment when the new Sus­tain­able Trans­port Man­ager is in post: i. Gradu­ate Trans­port Plan­ner, B and C ii. Trans­port Intern, band A b) The Scot­tish Land Com­mis­sion is also recruit­ing for a Green Fin­ance and Com­munity Wealth Officer in part­ner­ship with the Park Author­ity. Two applic­a­tions have been received, which await interview.

Com­mu­nic­a­tions

1. Press releases a) Park Author­ity awar­ded £10.7 mil­lion to help the Cairngorms become the UK’s first net zero nation­al park (link here) b) Out­door Demen­tia Resource Centre at Bad­aguish launches sum­mer 2024 pro­gramme (link here)

2. Cairn Magazine art­icles (link to latest issue here) a) Page 4 — Net Zero Nation­al Park b) Page 5 — Pro­ject fea­tures: ​‘Schools out’, ​‘Trans­form­ing trans­port’ and ​‘Demen­tia centre’. c) Page 14 — Cairngorms 2030 deliv­er­ables fea­ture d) Page 15 — Peat­land con­tract­or inter­view – Sean Williamson

3. Cairngorms Voices Peat­land con­tract­or inter­view – Sean Wil­li­am­son (link here)

4. Oth­er activ­ity Identi­fy­ing and enlist­ing the help of ​‘loc­al influ­en­cers’ Ann Vast­ano, Clare Cooper and Merryn Glover to provide images and quotes for the Spe­cial Land­scape Qual­it­ies campaign.
5. Social media 59 posts across the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Face­book, Ins­tagram, X and Linked­In. This includes fund­ing announce­ment, the Spe­cial Land­scape Qual­it­ies cam­paign, rel­ev­ant recruit­ment and Alzheimer Scotland’s Out­door Demen­tia Resource Centre sum­mer programme.

a) 381,078 impres­sions b) Reach of 266,435 c) 11,514 engage­ments d) 31,063 video views e) 4,082 likes/​reactions

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee Paper 2 14 June 2024 Q1 2024 Page 6 of 7

f) 317 shares g) 609 com­ments h) 1,611 link clicks

Train­ing

1. The deliv­ery phase is being co-ordin­ated using MS Pro­ject soft­ware. Staff train­ing for exist­ing staff is complete.
2. Facil­it­a­tion train­ing with Park Author­ity staff.

Sus­trans

1. The next phase of Act­ive travel design pro­jects was sub­mit­ted to Sus­trans on sched­ule. Decision and fund­ing award expec­ted in April 2024
2. No fur­ther changes to fund­ing policy were noted dur­ing the report­ing period.

Gov­ernance

1. The first deliv­ery phase C2030 Pro­gramme Board meet­ing was chaired by Grant Moir (CEO) on 1 Feb­ru­ary 2024.
2. The Head of Cairngorms 2030 met with the NLHF mon­it­or­ing con­sult­ant on 4 April 2024. No sig­ni­fic­ant issues raised on per­form­ance, risk or budget management.
3. The next Pro­gramme Board meet­ing will be held on 8 May 2024.

Cash flow

1. Pro­gramme match fund­ing pos­i­tion is being act­ively mon­itored with Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment and oth­er deliv­ery partners.
2. The Park Author­ity has sub­mit­ted indi­vidu­al pro­ject cash flow (planned v actu­al) reports to NLHF as part of quarterly reporting.
3. The Park Author­ity issued a revised year one cash flow to NLHF as part of the offi­cial ​‘per­mis­sion to start process’.

Pro­cure­ment

1. Pro­cure­ment stand­ards and guid­ance note issued to pro­gramme staff.
2. Cairngorms Future Farm­ing plan­ning con­sultancy tender awar­ded via Pub­lic Con­tract Scotland.

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee Paper 2 14 June 2024 Q1 2024 Page 7 of 7

1. Pro­gramme mon­it­or­ing and valu­ation con­sultancy tender awar­ded via Pub­lic Con­tract Scotland.
2. River res­tor­a­tion con­sultancy tender awar­ded via Pub­lic Con­tract Scotland.

Pro­gramme deliv­ery actions to end June 2024. | Action | When | | — -| — -| | Con­tract incep­tion meet­ing with mon­it­or­ing and eval­u­ation con­sult­ants | April 2024 | | C2030 All staff wel­come and learn­ing event — Glen­more | 24 April 2024 | | C2030 Pro­gramme Board meet­ing | 8 May 2024 | | Extern­al recruit­ment com­pleted | May 2024 | | NLHF UK Board site vis­it — Aviemore | 10June 24 |

Sig­ni­fic­ant Pro­gramme Change Requests

1. None

Sig­ni­fic­ant Budget Adjustments

1. None

Con­clu­sions: Per­form­ance Over­view and Mat­ters Mer­it­ing Stra­tegic Review

1. Q1 24 NLHF pro­gress reports sub­mit­ted to schedule.
2. Staff recruit­ment (phase 1) com­plete except for two posts (Com­mu­nic­a­tions Co- ordin­at­or and Green Fin­ance and Com­munity Wealth Officer).
3. Deliv­ery phase pro­ject plans and gov­ernance pro­ced­ures work­ing well.
4. £3m Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment Peat­land Res­tor­a­tion fund­ing secured for 2024 – 2025.
5. No sig­ni­fic­ant pro­gramme deliv­ery risks noted dur­ing this period.

Dav­id Clyne Head of Cairngorms 2030 davidclyne@​cairngorms.​co.​uk