241122Paper2Annex1WellbeingEconomyActionPlan
Cairngorms National Park Authority Ùghdarras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhonaidh Ruaidh
Formal Board Paper 2, Annex 1 22 November 2024
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Annex 1 Draft Cairngorms Wellbeing Economy Action Plan 2024
What is a Wellbeing Economy?
The Scottish Government define a wellbeing economy as “a society that is thriving across economic, social and environmental dimensions, and that delivers prosperity for all Scotland’s people and places”. The concept is a key part of the vision of the National Strategy for Economic Transformation, launched in September 2022 https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-national-strategy-economic- transformation/pages/1/.
The Wellbeing Economy Alliance Scotland are an organisation that promotes, campaigns for and encourages others to work towards a wellbeing economy. They identify five principles that underpin a wellbeing economy:
Dignity everyone has enough to live in comfort, safety, and happiness
Purpose institutions serve the common good
Nature a restored and safe natural world for all life
Participation people take part in decision-making & are engaged in their communities
Fairness income, wealth and power is distributed fairly
Cairngorms National Park Authority Ùghdarras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhonaidh Ruaidh
Formal Board Paper 2, Annex 1 22 November 2024
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Context for the National Park
Scottish National Parks were created using principles of a wellbeing economy and while they pre-date some of the terminology, the current aims of the National Parks are clearly aligned to it.
The Cairngorms National Park Partnership Plan 2022 – 27 sets out a strategy for building a wellbeing economy in the National Park and is the Economic Strategy for the National Park. The Partnership Plan explains how the aims of the National Park will be delivered together under a long-term vision of “An outstanding National Park, enjoyed and valued by everyone, where nature and people thrive together.” It also has three long term outcomes that reflects the principles of a wellbeing economy: a) Outcome for Nature: A carbon negative and biodiversity rich National Park with better functioning, better connected and more resilient ecosystems. b) Outcome for People: A wellbeing economy that works for all the people of the Cairngorms. c) Outcome for Place: A place that people want to live in, work in and visit that works for all.
The Partnership Plan sets out comprehensive actions over the period 2022 — 2027 to help deliver the long-term vision and outcomes. They tackle challenges that are related to a wellbeing economy in the context of the National Park and are delivered by multiple partners across the National Park.
The Partnership Plan is supported by other Action Plans such as the Sustainable Tourism Action Plan, Cairngorms Nature Action Plan, Local Development Plan and Active Cairngorms Action Plan that all set out work linked to a wellbeing economy.
Cairngorms 2030 is a National Heritage Lottery funded project intended to bring about transformational change in the Cairngorms, benefiting people’s health and wellbeing, delivering on climate change and enhancing nature across the National Park. It will focus on: a) Putting local people at the heart of decision-making and giving them more say in future funding decisions. b) Working with communities and partners to improve public transport and active travel connections across the National Park. c) Working with land managers to explore new ways of managing land, as well as restoring and enhancing large areas of peatland and woodland.
Cairngorms National Park Authority Ùghdarras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhonaidh Ruaidh
Formal Board Paper 2, Annex 1 22 November 2024
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d) Developing an economy that benefits people and nature, and providing green solutions to public health priorities including Covid-19 recovery, social isolation and dementia.
- The National Park is also part of three Regional Economic Partnerships with Regional Economic Strategies for The Highland and Islands, North East of Scotland and Tay Cities Region. These strategies help deliver the National Strategy for Economic Transformation at a regional scale and coordinate the work of multiple public bodies and the private sector to support the economies of those regions. The Regional Economic Strategies direct most public sector work and resource to support the economy and help deliver the National Park Partnership Plan. The Highlands and Islands Regional Economic Strategy in particular tackles the same issues across the Highlands and Islands as the National Park Partnership Plan identifies for the National Park.
The role of Wellbeing Economy Action Plan for the National Park
Given the scope of work and action already identified by the National Park Partnership Plan and regional economic strategies, in particular the Highland and Islands Regional Economic Strategy, most public sector work is already targeted at supporting a wellbeing economy across the National Park. Most critical factors that underpin the National Park’s economy such as the management of the land for nature, food, a healthy environment and climate change, for transport infrastructure, housing people can afford, opportunities to live healthily, supporting sustainable tourism, and even talent attraction and investment from the energy transition are all subject that have existing groups and organisations targeting action on at the regional or National Park scale. A wellbeing economy action plan therefore needs to add value to that work and complement it rather than duplicate or create new alternative action or work that could undermine the focus of existing work.
The development of the Wellbeing Economy Action Plan was discussed by the Cairngorms Economic Steering Group in 2023 and by a smaller Wellbeing Economy working group from it. The view was that given the scope and range of action already being addressed through partners’ agreed work across the National Park Partnership Plan and Regional Economic Strategies, constrained public sector resources and uncertain budgets, a wellbeing economy action plan should focus on a few areas where partners on the Economic Steering Group could add value to existing work, helping make sure that the National Park would realise benefits from it in ways that were as tailored as possible to the specific needs of the National Park.
Cairngorms National Park Authority Ùghdarras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhonaidh Ruaidh
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- The priority areas identified that provided potential for better collaboration and coordination between partners were: a) Business support – for all sizes and scale of business operating in the National Park and for community enterprise b) Skills and training – ensuring that regional skills development work and opportunities for training worked for the National Park and the people living and businesses operating in it. c) Community enterprise – trying to provide consistent support to community enterprise that deliver benefits, services and public service to local communities in a period of reduced funding.
Community Peatland Wealth-building Restoration Regional Regional Economic Inward Investment Housing Delivery & Talent Attraction Strategies Woodland Expansion Sustainable Tourism Low Carbon Land Management Transport Infrastructure & Active Travel Regional Skills & Training Skills & Training Wellbeing Economy Action Plan Business Support Climate Adaptation National Park Partnership Plan Healthy Lifestyles & Public Health Community Enterprise
Figure1. Wellbeing Economy Action Plan and wider wellbeing economy support.
Cairngorms National Park Authority Ùghdarras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhonaidh Ruaidh
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- The National Park Partnership Plan already has a range of actions under the three priority areas that are shown in Table one and provide a starting point for work which is monitored through the National Park Partnership Plan. However, the Economic Steering Group will explore better ways of delivering projects in each theme, so the Wellbeing Economy Action Plan is a working document that can adapt to partner’s resources, to external funding opportunities and allow more collaborative working on those priority themes. It will be updated each year to reflect work that partners will undertake and reported annually to the National Park Authority Board in the context of the National Park Partnership Plan, delivery of Cairngorms 2030 and relevant delivery of Regional Economic Strategies.
Table 1 – Wellbeing Economy Action Plan – Actions from Partnership Plan Theme | Actions from Partnership Plan — — -| — — - A. Business Support | A4 Deer and herbivore impacts: 1. Explore new models of public / private partnership for maintaining stalker employment in key areas of the National Park to achieve overall deer policy objectives. B2 Wellbeing economy: 1. Support employers to gain accreditation for eg Disability Confident, Carer Positive and the Young Person’s Guarantee (see People objective B10 – Park for All). B3 Real living wage: 2. Undertake a Real Living Wage audit of employers in the National Park. 3. Promote best practice and provide regular reports. B. Skills and Training | A3 Peatland restoration: 1. Increase contractor and estate capacity while creating job opportunities through a peatland skills training programme (see People objective B4 – Skills and training). B1 Working age population: 2. Develop a green skills / youth apprenticeship project to help grow a strong working age population. B4 Skills and training: 3. Support skills and training programmes relevant to business needs and changes in land management within the National Park (see Nature objectives A2 to A6). 4. Develop scholarships and a mentoring scheme for young people who want to study and be employed in the National Park.
Cairngorms National Park Authority Ùghdarras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhonaidh Ruaidh
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Table 1 – Wellbeing Economy Action Plan – Actions from Partnership Plan Theme | Actions from Partnership Plan — — -| — — - |5. Develop targeted skills initiatives to support social enterprises (see People objective B5 – Community assets and land). A14 Green investment: 1. Identify opportunities to strengthen the role of communities and public authorities in land purchase decisions in the National Park through the next Land Reform Bill. B5 Community assets and land: 2. Identify opportunities for community land ownership through a refreshed set of community action plans / local place plans. 3. Promote Scottish Land Commission Guidance and monitor compliance. 4. Support communities to acquire and manage assets / land through enhanced funding and training support (see People objective B7 – Community-led action planning and development). C. Community Enterprise | B7 Community-led planning and development: 5. A refreshed programme of support for community action planning and local place plans. 6. Develop and administer a new community-led development funding stream. B11 Volunteering and outdoor learning: 7. Support communities in maintaining and improving their local environment (path network, litter collection, open spaces, species and habitat work etc). C4 villages and town centres: 8. Review mechanisms available to the public sector to encourage regeneration of our town and village centres. 9. Promote business and community-led collaborative projects to encourage local expenditure and supply chains.