Cairngorms Loc­al Out­door Access Forum

Paper 1- Elec­tion of a new Convener

Adam Streeter-Smith, Recre­ation Access and Infra­struc­ture Man­ager 10 June 2026

Pur­pose

Mem­bers of the Cairngorms Loc­al Out­door Access For­um are required to:

• elect a new con­vener or:
• agree a one year exten­sion for the exist­ing con­ven­or or:
• agree to the next two meet­ings being chaired by the Park Authority

LOAF Con­vener

1. Mem­bers are asked to con­sider and agree one of the fol­low­ing options: a. Mem­bers are invited to pro­pose them­selves for con­ven­or­ship provid­ing they have secured second­er. The elec­tion of the new con­vener will pro­ceed as per annex 1. b. John Gre­is­on has stated he is will­ing to con­tin­ue as Con­vener for an addi­tion­al year. The cur­rent Con­ven­or has exceeded his 6 year mem­ber­ship term and there­fore it is pro­posed that as an excep­tion all mem­bers recruited before 2024 have their mem­ber­ship exten­ded from 6 to 7 years: c. That this meet­ing and the next are chaired by a rep­res­ent­at­ive of the Park Author­ity and/​or until such time as new Con­vener is appointed

LOAF Mem­bers must agree one of the options above before the meet­ing can commence

Annex 1

METH­OD FOR ELECT­ING A CONVENER

1. The For­um shall elect a Con­vener from amongst its mem­ber­ship. The pro­cess of elec­tion will be as fol­lows: a) Mem­bers may pro­pose them­selves as Con­vener, but anoth­er mem­ber must second the nom­in­a­tion for it to be val­id. b) Mem­bers who are absent from the meet­ing may nom­in­ate them­selves for elec­tion, provided they have indic­ated to the Sec­ret­ari­at in writ­ing their wish to be nom­in­ated and have the appro­pri­ate back­ing. If they wish, their writ­ten state­ment may be cir­cu­lated at the meet­ing in lieu of a verbal state­ment. c) Each can­did­ate will have the oppor­tun­ity to make a short verbal state­ment to the meet­ing (max­im­um 5 minutes). d) Elec­tion will be as fol­lows:

   *   The election for the Convener
   *   All voting will be by secret ballot.
   *   Members will score the candidates in descending order of preference – for example, if there are four candidates their preferred candidate will receive four points; second choice, three points; third choice, two points and last choice, one point.
   *   The candidate with the overall highest number of points in each election will be the Convener.
   *   If votes are tied, members who are present will have one vote for their preferred candidate.
   *   If the votes are still tied then the decision will be made by cutting a pack of playing cards, the candidate with the highest card will win. An ace is considered as a low card. If any of the candidates are absent, another member will be assigned to cut the cards for them by proxy.
   *   In the event of only one valid candidate, they will automatically be confirmed as Convener.
   

The dur­a­tion of office for the first Convener.

1. There­after the dur­a­tion of the office will be 3 years (unless the mem­ber con­cerned ceases to be a Mem­ber of the For­um, or resigns from the pos­i­tion of Con­vener before the end of the period).

2. For cases in which a Con­vener resigns or ceases to be a Mem­ber, the above pro­cess will apply, as the first item of busi­ness, at the next For­um meet­ing fol­low­ing the vacancy arising.

3. The Con­vener will preside over meet­ings and in his or her absence mem­bers will decide who will preside.

4. At the second last For­um meet­ing before the term of office of a cur­rent Con­vener expires, elec­tion of the next Con­vener shall take place.

Notes

Para 1b) Agency staff are the only mem­bers of the For­um with sub­sti­tu­tion rights, which is incom­pat­ible with the need for a Con­vener who are con­sist­ent indi­vidu­al mem­bers of the Forum

Para 2) This ties in with the length of time of For­um mem­ber­ship for the inaug­ur­al term

Para 3) This ties in with length of appoint­ment for future terms of membership