Stand­ing Orders for meet­ings of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Authority

Form­al Board Paper 4 Annex 2 22 Novem­ber 2024 Page 1 of 17

1. Estab­lish­ment of the Board:

The Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity (“the Board”) was estab­lished on 25 March 2003 by the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Des­ig­na­tion, Trans­ition­al and Con­sequen­tial Pro­vi­sions (Scot­land) Order 2003, under the Nation­al Parks (Scot­land) Act 2000. The Act allows the Author­ity to determ­ine its own procedures.

2. Applic­ab­il­ity of Procedures:

These stand­ing orders apply to Board and com­mit­tee meet­ings, in addi­tion to require­ments in the Act, the des­ig­na­tion order, oth­er Acts of Par­lia­ment, and guid­ance from Scot­tish Ministers.

3. Park Author­ity Membership:

The Board has 19 mem­bers, as pre­scribed in the Des­ig­na­tion Order:

• 5 mem­bers dir­ectly elec­ted (Cairngorms Nation­al Park Elec­tions (Scot­land) Order 2003).
• 7 mem­bers dir­ectly appoin­ted by Scot­tish Ministers.
• 7 mem­bers appoin­ted by Scot­tish Min­is­ters on the nom­in­a­tion of Loc­al Authorities.

Mem­bers are appoin­ted or elec­ted indi­vidu­ally, not as rep­res­ent­at­ives of organ­iz­a­tions. The term of appoint­ment is as spe­cified in a Member’s let­ter, or until the next Nation­al Park Author­ity elec­tion for elec­ted Members.

4. Con­vener and Deputy Convener:

The Board elects the Con­vener and Deputy Con­vener (Sched­ule 1, para­graph 11, of the Act). The Prop­er Officer will man­age the elec­tion pro­cess, ensur­ing it is secure, anonym­ous, and elec­tron­ic. The pro­cess is as follows:

a) A timetable for the elec­tion will be estab­lished at least two months before the cur­rent term ends.

b) Nom­in­a­tions are sought from Board mem­bers at least two weeks before the elec­tion opens. A nom­in­a­tion requires a pro­poser and a seconder.

c) Nom­in­a­tions are accep­ted in vari­ous per­man­ent forms (email, let­ter, recor­ded mes­sage) that provide a per­man­ent record. The nom­in­ee must also con­firm their consent.

d) If more than one val­id nom­in­a­tion exists, can­did­ates may provide state­ments which will be cir­cu­lated to mem­bers and pub­lished on the Park Author­ity website.

e) Can­did­ates are lis­ted on the bal­lot paper/​list in the order nom­in­a­tions are received.

f) An elec­tron­ic bal­lot (at least 48 hours) will be used with a single trans­fer­able vote system:

i. Members rank candidates (e.g., A=1, C=2, B=3).
ii. Only Board members can vote; no proxies.
iii. First preference votes are counted. If no candidate has an absolute majority, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and their votes are redistributed based on second preferences. This continues until a candidate wins an absolute majority.
iv. If there is a tie, the excluded candidate will be determined by lot.
v. If only two candidates remain tied, the election is decided by lot.
vi. If only one candidate stands, they are elected.
vii. Voting is secret; records are kept for seven days.

1. Lot Pro­ced­ures: A sep­ar­ate annex details the pro­cess for determ­in­ing ties by lot.

2. Term of Office: The Con­vener and Deputy Con­vener serve three-year terms, unless they resign or cease to be a Member.

3. Triggered Elec­tions: If the Con­vener or Deputy Con­vener resigns or ceases to be a Mem­ber, a new elec­tion is triggered immediately.

4. Com­mit­tee Elec­tions: The pro­cess for elect­ing the Con­vener and Deputy Con­vener also applies to com­mit­tee chairs.

5. Sim­ul­tan­eous Elec­tions: If the Con­vener and Deputy Con­vener are elec­ted sim­ul­tan­eously, the Convener’s elec­tion is declared first and that can­did­ate is removed from the Deputy Con­vener election.

10. Quor­um:

The quor­um is half the total num­ber of Board mem­bers plus one (10 mem­bers). No busi­ness is trans­acted without a quor­um. If the quor­um is lost dur­ing a meeting:

a) Busi­ness is deferred if the loss is due to declar­a­tions of interest. b) The meet­ing ends if a quor­um can­not be restored.

11. Attend­ance Records:

Attend­ance and absences are recor­ded in the minutes. Com­mit­tee quor­ums are determ­ined in their terms of reference.

12. Meet­ing Participation:

In-per­son attend­ance is pre­ferred. Video con­fer­en­cing is per­mit­ted if con­tri­bu­tions are fully access­ible. The Con­vener may approve excep­tions for video or tele­phone participation.

13. Non-Mem­bers:

Non-mem­bers may be invited to attend and speak, but they do not count towards the quorum.

14. Sched­ule of Meetings:

A pro­vi­sion­al sched­ule is approved annu­ally and pub­lished on the Park Author­ity website.

15. Spe­cial Meetings:

The Con­vener may call a spe­cial meet­ing for urgent mat­ters. Any mem­ber can request a spe­cial meet­ing; the Con­vener (or Deputy Con­vener) decides, unless at least 10 mem­bers request it through the Prop­er Officer (meet­ing must be held with­in 21 days).

16. Chief Executive’s Role:

The Chief Exec­ut­ive is respons­ible for organ­iz­a­tion, man­age­ment, and staff­ing. They advise the Board on fin­an­cial mat­ters and attend meet­ings (without vot­ing rights), except where mat­ters con­cern only Mem­bers (e.g., per­form­ance review).

17. Pub­lic Attend­ance at Meetings:

The Act (Sched­ule 2, para­graph 12) incor­por­ates Part IIIA of the Loc­al Gov­ern­ment (Scot­land) Act 1973, allow­ing pub­lic access to meet­ings and doc­u­ments unless there are good reas­ons to pre­vent it (con­fid­en­ti­al­ity). Annex 1 provides details.

18. Prop­er Officer:

The Board appoints a Prop­er Officer, respons­ible for apply­ing the rules on pub­lic access to meet­ings and documents.

19. Meet­ing Venues:

The Con­vener decides on ven­ues, ensur­ing pub­lic accessibility.

20. Board Papers:

Papers are pre­pared by Park Author­ity officers, approved by the Chief Exec­ut­ive, and cir­cu­lated to mem­bers sev­en days before the meet­ing. They are also provided to loc­al author­it­ies, the Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment, and made avail­able for pub­lic inspection.

21. Draft Papers:

Draft papers are cir­cu­lated to the Con­vener and Deputy Con­vener 14 days before the meet­ing for feedback.

22. Mem­bers’ Issues:

An item for ​“Any Oth­er Com­pet­ent Busi­ness” allows mem­bers to raise issues at the end of each meet­ing. These may be added to future agendas.

23. Con­ven­ing Meetings:

The Con­vener presides. If absent, the Deputy Con­vener presides. If neither is present, mem­bers choose a chair by major­ity vote.

24. Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Convening:

The Plan­ning Com­mit­tee is con­vened by its elec­ted Con­vener (and Deputy Con­vener in their absence), elec­ted by the whole Board.

25. Convener’s Responsibilities:

The Con­vener main­tains order, ensures com­pet­ency and rel­ev­ancy, and allows mem­bers to express their views.

26. Code of Conduct:

Mem­bers must adhere to the Park Authority’s Code of Conduct.

27. Board Decisions:

Decisions are usu­ally by con­sensus. Mem­bers arriv­ing late or leav­ing early are con­sidered non-attend­ing for decisions made after their departure/​before their arrival.

28. Record­ing Dissent:

Mem­bers can have dis­sent recor­ded if present for the whole discussion.

29. Writ­ten Comments:

Writ­ten com­ments from absent mem­bers may be read into the record or noted at the Convener’s discretion.

30. Urgent Decisions:

In urgent cases, cor­res­pond­ence may be used for decision-mak­ing; this is decided by the Con­vener or Deputy Convener.

31. Vot­ing:

Vot­ing is by simple major­ity, with the Con­vener hav­ing the cast­ing vote. A vote is called:

a) If a clear con­sensus doesn’t emerge. b) If a mem­ber requests it, seconded by anoth­er mem­ber. c) At the Convener’s discretion.

32. Vot­ing Eligibility:

Only attend­ing mem­bers can vote, with roll call. Video con­fer­en­cing mem­bers must be able to hear and be heard clearly.

33. Secret Ballot:

The Con­vener may order a secret ballot.

34. Amend­ments:

Amend­ments are voted on in reverse order, with the last pro­posed and seconded amend­ment voted on against the second to last, and so on until the final amendment.

35. Recon­sid­er­ing Decisions:

Decisions gen­er­ally can­not be recon­sidered with­in six months, except in excep­tion­al cir­cum­stances with the agree­ment of at least 10 members.

36. Code of Conduct:

The Code of Con­duct applies to all vot­ing and dis­sent situations.

37. Declar­a­tion of Interests:

A register of mem­bers’ interests is pub­licly avail­able online. Mem­bers declare interests before dis­cus­sion of rel­ev­ant items.

38. Per­son­al Liability:

Mem­bers are pro­tec­ted from per­son­al liab­il­ity for hon­est actions.

39. Cor­por­ate Responsibility:

Mem­bers share col­lect­ive respons­ib­il­ity; they must either sup­port decisions or resign.

40. Board Minutes:

The Chief Exec­ut­ive man­ages minutes, which should accur­ately reflect meet­ing dis­cus­sions and decisions.

41. Minute Approval:

Drafts are reviewed by the Chief Exec­ut­ive and Con­vener, then approved at the next meeting.

42. Action Points:

Action points are included in minutes and car­ried for­ward until completed.

43. Com­mit­tee Chairs:

Com­mit­tee chairs are elec­ted by the full Board.

44. Com­mit­tee Stand­ing Orders:

Com­mit­tees can have their own stand­ing orders, sub­ject to Board approval.

45. Com­mit­tee Agen­das and Minutes:

Agen­das and minutes are made avail­able to all Board mem­bers, unless stated otherwise.

46. Com­mit­tee Membership:

Com­mit­tees have three-year terms, with reviews every three years.

47. Com­mit­tee Quorum:

Four mem­bers are required for a quorum.

48. Prox­ies:

Proxy votes are allowed for com­mit­tee meet­ings, with sev­en days’ notice to the chair.

49. Del­eg­a­tion:

The Board can del­eg­ate author­ity to com­mit­tees, staff, or members.

50. Amend­ments to Stand­ing Orders:

Amend­ments require 10 mem­bers’ con­sent and notice at a pri­or meeting.

51. Oth­er Provisions:

The con­duct of meet­ings is also gov­erned by the Loc­al Gov­ern­ment (Scot­land) Act 1973, Part III (Sched­ule 2, para­graph 12, of the Nation­al Parks (Scot­land) Act) and the Mem­bers’ Code of Conduct.

Annex 1: Access to Meet­ings and Documents

This annex details the rules gov­ern­ing pub­lic access to meet­ings and doc­u­ments under the Loc­al Gov­ern­ment (Scot­land) Act 1973, Part IIIA.

Annex 2: Tie-Break Procedure

This annex details the tie-break pro­ced­ures for elec­tions: a coin toss for two can­did­ates, and draw­ing cards for three or more.