Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

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Cairngorms Loc­al Out­door Access Forum

Paper 2- Dis­cus­sion Paper- Review­ing and refresh­ing the Cairngorms Loc­al Out­door Access Forum

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

Pur­pose

To review and refresh the format of the Cairngorms Loc­al Out­door Access For­um, put plans in place to new mem­bers and ensure the LOAF is sus­tain­able going forward.

Back­ground

1. Sec­tion 25 of the Land Reform (Scot­land) Act 2003 (the Act) requires that the Access Author­ity set up a loc­al access for­um for the pur­pose of advising the Access Author­ity and oth­ers on mat­ters relat­ing to out­door access. When mak­ing appoint­ments to the for­um, regard must be had on reas­on­able rep­res­ent­a­tion in the for­um of: a. Bod­ies rep­res­ent­at­ive of per­sons who have an interest in the exer­cise of access rights, per­sons hav­ing such an interest: b. Bod­ies rep­res­ent­at­ive of landown­ers and landown­ers themselves.
2. The Cairngorms Loc­al Out­door Access For­um (LOAF) has been oper­a­tion­al for more than 21 years on the 31^st of March 2026 and has played a cru­cial role in help­ing the Park Author­ity shape and devel­op policies and plans, address access issues and advise on the sus­tain­able man­age­ment of out­door access. Mem­bers’ time and ded­ic­a­tion is highly val­ued by the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity and by the Park Author­ity Board.
3. This paper con­siders the future struc­ture and mem­ber­ship of the LOAF with the aim of: a) Ensur­ing the focus of the LOAF is on mat­ters most rel­ev­ant to the long-term sus­tain­able man­age­ment of recre­ation and out­door access:

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b) Provid­ing interest and oppor­tun­ity for new mem­bers: c) Ensur­ing there remains rep­res­ent­a­tion from both those tak­ing access and landown­ers or land man­agers who man­age access: d) Sup­port­ing mem­bers to make valu­able con­tri­bu­tions to dis­cus­sions on out­door access.

1. It is recog­nised that in the last few years it has been chal­len­ging to recruit new mem­bers. This is not a unique prob­lem for the Cairngorms LOAF and reflects sim­il­ar chal­lenges in oth­er Access Author­ity areas.

2. In ²⁰²⁴⁄₂₅ the Park Author­ity took steps to refresh and rein­vig­or­ate the LOAF includ­ing recruit­ing new mem­bers and a revised meet­ing format of three even­ing meet­ings a year includ­ing one in-per­son session.

3. The Cairngorms LOAF Oper­at­ing Pro­ced­ures state there will be a max­im­um of 15 mem­bers includ­ing one Park Author­ity Board mem­ber. Cur­rently there are 10 mem­bers includ­ing a board mem­ber and anoth­er pub­lic sec­tor organ­isa­tion ordin­ar­ily a rep­res­ent­at­ive from Forestry and Land Scotland.

Options

1. Table 1 sets out two poten­tial options going for­ward to main­tain the LOAF on a sus­tain­able and rel­ev­ant footing.

Table 1.

Option	Descrip­tion	Pros	Cons
Main­tain exist­ing forum	Main­tain exist­ing format and struc­ture of the LOAF, instig­ate a mem­ber­ship recruit­ment drive	- Main­tains con­tinu­ity: - Builds skills and exper­i­ence with­in exist­ing mem­bers - Ensures an oper­a­tion­al LOAF is in place if required	- At risk of dwind­ling mem­ber­ship and meet­ings not being rep­res­ent­at­ive - Format favours volun­teers not pro­fes­sion­als as even­ing meetings
Refresh and restruc­ture LOAF mem­ber­ship based on the Nation­al Access For­um model	Re-write the oper­at­ing prin­ciples to change the format ie, day time meet­ings and mem­ber­ship struc­ture includ­ing a mix of self selec­ted seats, rep­res­ent­at­ive seats drawn from likes of oth­er Park fora	- Provides an oppor­tun­ity to restruc­ture mem­ber­ship and cre­ate a format that favours rep­res­ent­at­ive bod­ies - Enables test­ing of new­er mod­els of participation	- Risk of hiatus in LOAF cov­er­age - Risk of exist­ing mem­bers leav­ing - May be more chal­len­ging to upskill par­ti­cipants - Risk loss of bal­anced input - Risk of loss of com­munity representation

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LOAF Mem­bers are asked to con­sider and advise which mod­el would be best to develop.