Cairngorms National Park Partnership Plan 2022-27 - Accessible version

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan 2022 – 27

Doc­u­ment title in Gael­ic: Plana Com- pàirtea­chais Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh 2022 – 27

This doc­u­ment is avail­able in oth­er formats on request. Please con­tact the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity on +44 (0) 1479 873 535 or vis­it www​.cairngorms​.co​.uk

Doc­u­ment copy­right Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity, 2022. All rights reserved.

ISBN 978−1−3999−3136−6

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Table of contents

1. Min­is­teri­al fore­word 3
2. Min­is­teri­al fore­word in Gael­ic: Ro-ràdh bhon Mhin­iste­ar 5
3. Nation­al Park aims 7
4. What is a Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan? 8
5. The wider policy land­scape 9
6. Her­it­age Hori­zons: Cairngorms 2030 11
7. Strik­ing the right bal­ance 16
8. Fair and just trans­ition 17
9. Out­comes for Nature, People and Place 18
10. Nature object­ives 21
11. Nature policies 42
12. People object­ives 45
13. People policies 58
14. Place object­ives 62
15. Place policies 75
16. Com­ple­ment­ary strategies 78
17. How we will deliv­er the plan 82
18. Key nation­al for­ums and groups 84
19. Gloss­ary of terms 91
20. Organ­isa­tions and groups lis­ted in this plan 96

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1. Min­is­teri­al foreword

The nature and cli­mate crises require lead­er­ship and action and this Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan does both for the largest nation­al park in the UK. We have exper­i­enced sig­ni­fic­ant changes since the last Part­ner­ship Plan was pub­lished in 2017 and it was heart­en­ing to see nearly 1,500 people take part in the con­sulta­tion on the future of this spe­cial place.

The cli­mate and nature crises are the biggest chal­lenges we face and it is crit­ic­al that the Cairngorms Nation­al Park is an exem­plar in achiev­ing net zero, devel­op­ing nature-based solu­tions and help­ing Scot­land meet its tar­gets as part of a just transition.

The Part­ner­ship Plan offers an oppor­tun­ity to ensure that nature is at the heart of our decision-mak­ing for the future. We need to deliv­er an eco­nomy that sup­ports people to thrive whilst also pro­tect­ing and nur­tur­ing nature, not exploit­ing it for short-term bene­fit and long-term harm.

This generation’s goal, and that of all gov­ern­ments, must be to leave things bet­ter than we found them for future gen­er­a­tions to enjoy.

To address the cli­mate and nature crises, we need to act at unpre­ced­en­ted speed and scale across all parts of soci­ety. That is why the Her­it­age Hori­zons: Cairngorms 2030 pro­gramme is so import­ant to ensur­ing that we do the right things at scale, tak­ing the people who live, work in and vis­it the Park with us.

Meet­ing the object­ives with­in this Part­ner­ship Plan will mean hard choices need to be made. There are ambi­tious tar­gets to increase the num­ber of afford­able houses, improve act­ive travel and pub­lic trans­port, reduce deer num­bers and oth­er herb­i­vores to enable wood­land expan­sion, restore and man­age peat­land to reduce car­bon emis­sions, and to have 50% of the Nation­al Park man­aged prin­cip­ally for eco­sys­tem res­tor­a­tion, which will bring wider land­scape, biod­iversity and people bene­fits. This is not tinker­ing around the edges; this is fun­da­ment­al change that we need to see and support.

This Part­ner­ship Plan will focus deliv­ery on our shared ambi­tion for a car­bon neg­at­ive and biod­iversity-rich Nation­al Park with bet­ter func­tion­ing, bet­ter con­nec­ted and more resi­li­ent eco­sys­tems, a place where people want to live, work and vis­it, under­pinned by a well­being eco­nomy that works for all the people of Scotland.

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It sets out an approach that listens to and involves com­munit­ies in the Nation­al Park, giv­ing us the best pos­sible chance togeth­er to deliv­er a decar­bon­ised and nature-based eco­nomy where people and nature thrive together.

Nation­al parks can do so much for Scot­land and this plan shows the ambi­tion and the prag­mat­ic applic­a­tion that will be needed to meet the chal­lenges of the next 25 years.

Lor­na Slater MSP, Min­is­ter for Green Skills, Cir­cu­lar Eco­nomy and Biodiversity

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1. Min­is­teri­al fore­word in Gael­ic: Ro-ràdh bhon Mhinistear

Tha an èiginn nàdair is gnàth-thìde feu­mach air cean­nas agus gnìomh, agus sin dìreach na tha Plana Com-pàirtea­chais na Pàirce Nàiseanta seo a’ lìbhrigeadh air­son na pàirce nàiseanta as motha san Rìoghachd Aon­aichte. Tha sinn air ath­ar­ra­chaid­hean mòra fha­icinn bho chaidh am plana com-pàirtea­chais mu dheire­adh fhoill­seachadh ann an 2017 agus bha e na thoileachas dhuinn gun do ghabh faisg air 1,500 neach pàirt anns a’ cho-chom­hairle air na tha an dàn don àite shòn­raichte seo.

’S e èiginn gnàth-thìde agus èiginn nàdair na dùbh­lain as motha a tha rom­hainn agus tha e deatamach gum bi Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh na h- eis­im­pleir ann a bhith a’ coileanadh net zero, a’ leas­achadh fhuasglaid­hean stèid­hichte air nàdar agus a’ cuideachadh Alba gus na tar­gaidean aice a choileanadh mar phàirt de dh’eadar-ghlu­as­ad cothromach.

Tha am plana com-pàirtea­chais a’ toirt cothrom dhuinn dèanamh cin­nteach gu bheil nàdar aig cridhe ar co-dhùnaid­hean air­son an ama ri teachd. Feu­maidh an eacona­maidh againn a bhith a’ cuideachadh dhaoine gus soirb­heachadh ach aig an aon àm a’ dìon agus ag àrach nàdar, gun a bhith a’ gabhail brath air air­son buan­nachd sa gheàrr-ùine a dh’adhbharaicheas cron san fhad-ùine.

Feu­maidh gur e amas a’ ghineal­aich seo, agus amas gach riaghal­tais, rudan fhà­gail nas fheàrr na lorg sinn iad air­son nan gineal­aichean ri teachd.

Gus dèi­li­geadh ri èiginn gnàth-thìde agus èiginn nàdair, feu­maidh far­saingeachd is astar na h‑obrach a bhith aig ìre nach fhacas a‑riamh roimhe thar gach pàirt den cho­mann-shòisealta. Sin as coire­ach gu bheil am prò­gram, Dùthchas: Mon­adh Ruadh 2030, cho cudromach air­son dèanamh cin­nteach gun dèan sinn na rudan ceart aig an ìre cheart, a’ toirt nan daoine a tha a’ fuire­ach, ag obair agus a’ tadhal air a’ Phàirc còmhla rinn. Le bhith a’ coileanadh nan amas­an sa phlana com-pàirtea­chais seo feu­mar rog­hain­nean cru­aidh a dhèanamh. Tha tar­gaidean àrd-amas­ach ann air­son an àire­amh thaighean aig prìs ruigsin­neach a mheu­dachadh, siubhal gnìom­hach agus còm­hd­hail pho­blach a leas­achadh, àire­am­han fèidh is luib­hear­an eile a lùgh­dachadh gus leu­dachadh choill­tean a dhèanamh comas­ach, talamh mòn­ach ath-nuadhachadh agus a riagh­ladh gus sgaoil­id­hean car­boin a bhacadh, agus 50% den Phàirc Nàiseanta a bhith air a riagh­ladh gu sònraichte

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air­son ath-nuadhachadh eag-shio­s­taim, a bheir buan­nachdan nas fhar­sainge do chruth-tìre, bith-ioma­dachd agus daoine. Is e ath­ar­rachadh bunaiteach a tha seo a dh’fheumas tachairt agus tha e deatamach gun toir sinn taic dha.

Bidh am plana com-pàirtea­chais seo a’ cuim­seachadh air ar miann coitcheann air­son Pàirc Nàiseanta car­bon-àicheil a tha beairteach le bith-ioma­dachd ​‘s a bheil eag-shio­sta­man ag obair ann an dòigh nas fheàrr, nas eadarchean­gailte agus nas sea­smha­iche, àite far a bheil daoine air­son a bhith a’ fuire­ach, ag obair agus a’ tadhal, le taic bho eacona­maidh sunnd a tha ag obair do shluagh na h‑Alba air fad.

Tha e a’ stèid­heachadh dòigh-obrach a bhios ag èisteachd ri coim­hearsnachdan sa Phàirc Nàiseanta agus gan toirt na lùib, a’ toirt dhuinn an cothrom as fheàrr gus eacona­maidh neo-char­bon­aichte agus stèid­hichte air nàdar a lìbhrigeadh còmhla far am bi daoine agus nàdar a’ soirbheachadh.

Faodaidh pàir­cean nàiseanta uim­hir a dhèanamh air­son Alba agus tha am plana seo a’ seall­tainn an àrd-mhi­ann, agus obair chi­al­lach a bhios a dhìth gus coin­neachadh ri dùbh­lain an ath 25 bliadhna.

Lor­na Slater BPA, Min­iste­ar air­son Sgilean Uaine, Eacona­maidh Chear­cal­lach agus Bith-iomadachd

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1. Nation­al Park aims

The Cairngorms is the UK’s largest nation­al park at 4,528 sq km (6% of Scotland’s land mass) and is home to one quarter of the UK’s rare and endangered spe­cies. Around 18,000 people live in the Nation­al Park across the areas of Aber­deen­shire, Angus, High­land, Moray, Perth and Kinross, with two mil­lion vis­it­ors enjoy­ing this spe­cial place every year.

The Nation­al Park has four dis­tinct aims as set out by Par­lia­ment: i. To con­serve and enhance the nat­ur­al and cul­tur­al her­it­age of the area. ii. To pro­mote under­stand­ing and enjoy­ment (includ­ing enjoy­ment in the form of recre­ation) of the spe­cial qual­it­ies of the area by the pub­lic. iii. To pro­mote sus­tain­able use of the nat­ur­al resources of the area. iv. To pro­mote sus­tain­able eco­nom­ic and social devel­op­ment of the area’s communities.

These aims are to be pur­sued col­lect­ively. How­ever, if there is con­flict between the first aim and any of the oth­ers, great­er weight is giv­en to the first aim (as set out in Sec­tion 9.6 of the Nation­al Parks (Scot­land) Act 2000). This helps ensure con­ser­va­tion of the nat­ur­al and cul­tur­al her­it­age under­pins the eco­nom­ic, social and recre­ation value of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park. The Part­ner­ship Plan embeds this approach in the strategy for the Nation­al Park that is approved by Min­is­ters and sets the frame­work for all pub­lic bod­ies that work with­in the Cairngorms, from organ­isa­tions like NatureScot and the five loc­al author­it­ies to Trans­port Scot­land, High­lands and Islands Enter­prise and Skills Devel­op­ment Scot­land. The plan is also sup­por­ted and delivered by a range of private and vol­un­tary organisations.

Our long-term vision

‘An out­stand­ing Nation­al Park, enjoyed and val­ued by every­one, where nature and people thrive together.’

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1. What is a Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan?

The Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan sets out how all those with a respons­ib­il­ity for the Nation­al Park will coordin­ate their work to tackle the most import­ant issues.

In par­tic­u­lar, this plan:

• Sets out the vis­ion and over­arch­ing strategy for man­aging the Nation­al Park.
• Guides the work of all pub­lic bod­ies and oth­er part­ners to deliv­er the aims of the Nation­al Park.
• Provides the stra­tegic con­text for the Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan.
• Is the Stra­tegic Region­al Land Use Frame­work and Region­al Spa­tial Strategy for the Nation­al Park.
• Is the Eco­nom­ic and Sus­tain­able Tour­ism Strategy for the Nation­al Park.

The doc­u­ment is arranged in three sec­tions: Nature, People and Place. In each sec­tion we set out on over­all out­come that we want to achieve by 2045 (the year Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment has com­mit­ted to achiev­ing net zero), plus a series of long-term object­ives and key tar­gets or indic­at­ors of pro­gress. Each of these tar­gets is sup­por­ted by a set of actions and policies for the next five years.

We are aware that indi­vidu­als read­ing the Part­ner­ship Plan will have dif­fer­ent interests and pri­or­it­ies; how­ever, we would recom­mend con­sid­er­ing the plan as a whole to see how the four aims of the Nation­al Park will be delivered collectively.

As an example: to meet the tar­get for peat­land res­tor­a­tion there will need to be a change to deer man­age­ment in the Nation­al Park. To enable the scale of peat­land res­tor­a­tion to be delivered we will need to increase invest­ment in skills and train­ing of people to deliv­er this work, which in turn will be an oppor­tun­ity for eco­nom­ic diver­si­fic­a­tion with­in the Cairngorms eco­nomy. Finally, if we are going to have loc­al con­tract­ors who under­take this work, we will need to invest in train­ing and have the right level of afford­able hous­ing that allows people to live and work in the area. In this way, all the long-term object­ives are interrelated.

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1. The wider policy landscape

There have been sig­ni­fic­ant changes in the policy land­scape since the last Part­ner­ship Plan was pub­lished in 2017. A cli­mate emer­gency and nature crisis have been declared. The UK has left the European Uni­on and its policy frame­work, and the Cov­id-19 pan­dem­ic – and our col­lect­ive need to recov­er from its impacts – is at the fore­front of policy dis­cus­sion. There is also a deep­en­ing cost-of-liv­ing crisis and a desire to move to an eco­nomy that works for every­one, with the well­being of our cit­izens at its heart.

Nation­al policy framework

As a whole, this Part­ner­ship Plan is guided by Scot­tish Government’s Nation­al Per­form­ance Frame­work and by the UN Sus­tain­able Devel­op­ment Goals. The doc­u­ments lis­ted on the page oppos­ite are the key nation­al policy doc­u­ments that under­pin the approach taken in this plan.

The Cairngorms Nation­al Park also has a sig­ni­fic­ant role to play in deliv­er­ing the policy ambi­tions of Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment. This is focused on Scot­land being a place to innov­ate, tri­al new ways of think­ing and show ambi­tion to tackle the key chal­lenges of our time. The Nation­al Park has done this in the past on issues like wind­farm or hill­track policy, on increas­ing the per­cent­age of afford­able hous­ing up to 45% in cer­tain vil­lages and towns, and pur­su­ing ambi­tious pro­jects like Her­it­age Hori­zons: Cairngorms 2030. This Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan looks to pro­mote the Nation­al Park as a place to tri­al solu­tions to some of the most press­ing issues facing Scot­land as a whole.

Nation­al policies relat­ing to Nature

• A Future Strategy for Scot­tish Agriculture
• Cli­mate Change Plan 2018 – 2032
• Deer Work­ing Group – Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment Response
• Envir­on­ment Strategy for Scotland
• Grouse Moor Man­age­ment Review – Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment Response
• Land Use Strategy for Scot­land 2021 – 2026
• Scot­tish Biod­iversity Strategy 2022, Biod­iversity State­ment of Intent, Edin­burgh Declaration
• Water Frame­work Dir­ect­ive and River Basin Man­age­ment Plans

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Nation­al policies relat­ing to People

• Equal­it­ies Duty
• Land Rights and Respons­ib­il­it­ies Statement
• Nation­al Gael­ic Lan­guage Plan
• Nature-based Jobs and Skills Action Plan
• Scotland’s Nation­al Strategy for Eco­nom­ic Transformation
• Scotland’s Pub­lic Health Priorities
• Skills Action Plan for Rur­al Scotland
• Volun­teer­ing for All

Nation­al policies relat­ing to Place

• Cul­tur­al Strategy for Scotland
• Hous­ing to 2040 Strategy
• Let’s Get Scot­land Walk­ing – Nation­al Walk­ing Strategy
• Nation­al Plan­ning Frame­work 4
• Nation­al Trans­port Strategy
• Scot­land Out­look 2030 – Respons­ible Tour­ism for a Sus­tain­able Future
• Stra­tegic Trans­port Pro­jects Review 2

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1. Her­it­age Hori­zons: Cairngorms 2030

It is easy to feel power­less in the face of a glob­al cli­mate emer­gency and nature crisis. But we believe it doesn’t have to be this way. Inspired by the Gael­ic word Dùthchas – mean­ing the deep-rooted con­nec­tion between people and nature — Her­it­age Hori­zons: Cairngorms 2030 is put­ting the power to tackle the cli­mate and nature crises in the hands of people who live, vis­it and work in the UK’s largest nation­al park.

Across 24 long-term pro­jects, Her­it­age Hori­zons will bring about trans­form­a­tion­al change in the Cairngorms, bene­fit­ing people’s health and well­being, deliv­er­ing on cli­mate change and enhan­cing nature across the Nation­al Park. The pro­gramme is on a lar­ger scale than any­thing pre­vi­ously attemp­ted in the UK, and aims to inspire rur­al and urb­an com­munit­ies through­out Scot­land and bey­ond to take action and make a difference.

Her­it­age Hori­zons is an unpre­ced­en­ted part­ner­ship of over 45 organ­isa­tions and is sup­por­ted by The Nation­al Lot­tery Her­it­age Fund, with thanks to the Nation­al Lot­tery players.

In par­tic­u­lar, Her­it­age Hori­zons: Cairngorms 2030 will focus on:

• Put­ting loc­al people at the heart of decision-mak­ing and giv­ing them more say in future fund­ing decisions.
• Work­ing with com­munit­ies and part­ners to improve pub­lic trans­port and act­ive travel con­nec­tions across the Nation­al Park.
• Work­ing with land man­agers to explore new ways of man­aging land, as well as restor­ing and enhan­cing large areas of peat­land and woodland.
• Devel­op­ing an eco­nomy that bene­fits people and nature, and provid­ing green solu­tions to pub­lic health pri­or­it­ies includ­ing Cov­id-19 recov­ery, social isol­a­tion and dementia.

List of Her­it­age Hori­zons: Cairngorms 2030 projects

Cli­mate con­scious communities

Increas­ing aware­ness and deep­en­ing under­stand­ing of the cli­mate emer­gency and its rel­ev­ance to res­id­ents, com­munit­ies, landown­ers and busi­nesses in the Nation­al Park.

Rel­ev­ant part­ner­ship plan object­ives: A1.

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Cli­mate learn­ing and education

Put­ting the voices of young people at the heart of decision-mak­ing in the Nation­al Park, empower­ing and inspir­ing our young people and edu­cat­ors to take for­ward pro-envir­on­ment­al beha­viours and activity.

Rel­ev­ant part­ner­ship plan object­ives: A1, B1, B7, B10 and B11.

Com­munity arts and culture

Bring­ing togeth­er the Nation­al Park’s cre­at­ive sec­tor and com­munit­ies to identi­fy and devel­op activ­it­ies that cre­ate a great­er con­nec­tion to our land­scapes and foster a sense of place.

Rel­ev­ant part­ner­ship plan object­ives: B8, C10.

Com­munity-man­aged grant scheme

Help­ing achieve our net zero and well­being eco­nomy tar­gets by giv­ing com­munit­ies the power to define, design, fund and deliv­er pro­jects that mat­ter most to them.

Rel­ev­ant part­ner­ship plan object­ives: A14, B2, B5, B6, B7, B10, C3, C4 and C10.

Effect­ive com­munity engage­ment and outreach

Shap­ing the way we engage with people in the Nation­al Park, ensur­ing indi­vidu­als and com­munit­ies feel empowered, want to con­trib­ute and have the resources to effect real change.

Rel­ev­ant part­ner­ship plan object­ives: B5, B6, B7 and B10.

Act­ive communities

Devel­op­ing act­ive travel infra­struc­ture to make it easy, safe and enjoy­able for res­id­ents and vis­it­ors to walk, cycle or get around using a wheel­chair. This is split into four pro­jects focused on Aviemore, Badenoch and Strath­spey, Bal­later and Brae­mar, and Blair Atholl and Killiecrankie.

Rel­ev­ant part­ner­ship plan object­ives: A1, B7, B9, B10, C4, C5, C6, C7 and C9.

Cairngorms Act­ive Travel Plan

Devel­op­ing a Cairngorms-wide act­ive travel net­work that integ­rates with pub­lic trans­port, help­ing reduce private car use and encour­age res­id­ents and vis­it­ors to travel more act­ively in the Nation­al Park.

Rel­ev­ant part­ner­ship plan object­ives: A1, B7, B9, B10, C4, C5, C6, C7 and C9.

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E‑bike net­work

Redu­cing per­son­al car use by vis­it­ors and res­id­ents through an access­ible net­work of e‑bikes, and enga­ging and inspir­ing people to use e‑bikes as a reg­u­lar mode of transport.

Rel­ev­ant part­ner­ship plan object­ives: A1, B7, B9, B10, C4, C5, C6, C7, C8 and C9.

Glen­more trans­port plan

Design­ing a new sus­tain­able mod­el of trans­port in the Cairngorms’ busiest vis­it­or hot­spot to reduce reli­ance on private vehicles, in turn redu­cing car­bon emis­sions from trans­port in the Nation­al Park.

Rel­ev­ant part­ner­ship plan object­ives: A1, B7, B9, B10, C4, C5, C6, C7, C8 and C9.

Sus­tain­able trans­port in the Nation­al Park

Focus­ing on Deeside, Angus and High­land Perth­shire, we will make to easy to get around without a private car by improv­ing sus­tain­able trans­port options in the Nation­al Park.

Rel­ev­ant part­ner­ship plan object­ives: A1, B7, B9, B10, C4, C5, C6, C7 and C9.

Cairngorms future farming

Work­ing with six pilot farms in the Nation­al Park to demon­strate how a trans­ition to net zero (or even car­bon neg­at­ive) farm­ing can be delivered prac­tic­ally and prof­it­ably in the Cairngorms.

Rel­ev­ant part­ner­ship plan object­ives: A1, A8, A10 and B4.

Cli­mate resi­li­ent catchments

Increas­ing cli­mate change resi­li­ence to reduce the risk of flood­ing in the Nation­al Park and ensure that rivers con­tin­ue to deliv­er for the people and wild­life that depend upon them.

Rel­ev­ant part­ner­ship plan object­ives: A1, A2, A3, A8, A9, A11 and A14.

Deer man­age­ment

Enga­ging a broad range of people involved in deer man­age­ment to devel­op stra­tegic land use plans that will sup­port land man­agers through the economic

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and envir­on­ment­al changes asso­ci­ated with redu­cing deer num­bers, and mit­ig­at­ing the impact of deer on the environment.

Rel­ev­ant part­ner­ship plan object­ives: A1, A2, A3, A4, A11 and B4.

Green invest­ment plan

Blend­ing pub­lic and private fin­ance to deliv­er our net zero and biod­iversity tar­gets, whilst also provid­ing long-term bene­fits for land man­agers, investors and communities.

Rel­ev­ant part­ner­ship plan object­ives: A1, A2, A3, A5, A8, A13, A11 and A14.

Land­scapes and communities

Explor­ing how com­munit­ies per­ceive, exper­i­ence and value the land­scapes of the Nation­al Park, identi­fy­ing spe­cial land­scape qual­it­ies and estab­lish­ing com­munity pref­er­ences for land­scape change.

Rel­ev­ant part­ner­ship plan object­ives: A1, A10, A12, B2, B5, B7, B11, C9 and C10.

Peat­land restoration

Repair­ing around 3,500 ha of dam­aged peat­land over a five-year peri­od, stor­ing CO2 and deliv­er­ing sig­ni­fic­ant eco­lo­gic­al bene­fits through restoration.

Rel­ev­ant part­ner­ship plan object­ives: A1, A3, A5, A10, A11, A13 and A14.

Region­al Land Use Partnerships

Help­ing all those who have a stake in land man­age­ment and land use under­stand their rights and respons­ib­il­it­ies and learn how they can get involved in the work of Region­al Land Use Partnerships.

Rel­ev­ant part­ner­ship plan object­ives: A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, A8, A9, A10, A11 and A14.

Wood­land expansion

Help­ing absorb and store large amounts of CO2 by increas­ing wood­land cov­er in the Nation­al Park by 1,000 ha over the next five years.

Rel­ev­ant part­ner­ship plan object­ives: A1, A2, A10, A11, A13 and A14.

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Demen­tia activ­ity resource centre

Cre­at­ing the country’s first out­door resource centre spe­cific­ally designed to sup­port people liv­ing with demen­tia, their fam­il­ies and carers, enabling enjoy­ment and explor­a­tion of the out­door environment.

Rel­ev­ant part­ner­ship plan object­ives: A1, B2, B3 and B9.

Pub­lic health and the outdoors

Work­ing with NHS High­land and part­ners in a range of sec­tors to deliv­er a unique pub­lic health pro­gramme focused on improv­ing health and well­being through access to nature and the outdoors.

Rel­ev­ant part­ner­ship plan object­ives: A1, B2, B9 and B10.

Well­being economy

Devel­op­ing a new eco­nom­ic mod­el for the Nation­al Park that bene­fits people and nature, whilst pro­tect­ing the planet’s resources and spe­cial qual­it­ies of the Cairngorms for future generations.

Rel­ev­ant part­ner­ship plan object­ives: A1, A10, B2, B3, B4 and B9.

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1. Strik­ing the right balance

One of the key points around a man­age­ment plan that takes a long-term view (in this case 25 years and bey­ond) is the need to be real­ist­ic and make clear that there will be trade-offs.

The dial can­not be ​‘turned up’ on everything. We will look for areas where we can deliv­er mul­tiple bene­fits and mit­ig­ate impacts, but we will also be hon­est about areas where com­prom­ise will be required.

For example, the cli­mate is chan­ging and this will affect the spe­cies and hab­it­ats that can sur­vive in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park. Scal­ing up nature recov­ery and eco­sys­tem res­tor­a­tion may mean a change to the abund­ance and dis­tri­bu­tion of cer­tain spe­cies. Equally, it might not be pos­sible – or indeed desir­able — to get all fea­tures on des­ig­nated sites into favour­able con­di­tion if our col­lect­ive goal is long-term eco­lo­gic­al res­tor­a­tion. There may be a need for con­trols on hol­i­day rent­al prop­er­ties to ensure hous­ing is afford­able for loc­al people.

These are all points of reas­on­able debate – and we have heard views on all sides dur­ing the extens­ive con­sulta­tion on this plan – but it is essen­tial that we strike the right bal­ance to ensure the Nation­al Park thrives for both nature and people in the future. This means hav­ing dif­fi­cult con­ver­sa­tions with people from all walks of life who care about the Nation­al Park and mak­ing import­ant decisions, backed up by the best avail­able evid­ence, for the long term. As the data and evid­ence changes over the next five years we will also need to adapt and change our approach to man­aging the Nation­al Park, reflect­ing the best know­ledge available.

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1. Fair and just transition

To address the cli­mate and nature crises, we will need to act at unpre­ced­en­ted speed and scale across all parts of soci­ety. Change of this nature is nev­er easy and we need to be care­ful to bring every­one with us on the jour­ney. It will be cru­cial that we do not impact any one group of people unduly, and that we use the resources and eco­nom­ic changes to bring bene­fits to as wide a range of people as pos­sible. This is what we mean by a fair and just transition.

Bal­an­cing the object­ives con­tained with­in this plan with some of the fun­da­ment­al changes that they will bring about will require care­ful dis­cus­sion and weigh­ing-up of dif­fer­ent pri­or­it­ies. Under­stand­ing and address­ing con­cerns about the changes to cur­rent ways of life does not neg­ate the need for trans­form­at­ive action, but it will make it easi­er to pur­sue those aims col­lect­ively. Hard choices will still need to be made; how­ever, an approach which listens to and involves com­munit­ies of place and interest in the Nation­al Park has the best pos­sible chance of deliv­er­ing a decar­bon­ised and nature- based eco­nomy where people and nature thrive together.

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1. Out­comes for Nature, People and Place

Our over­all out­come for Nature

A car­bon neg­at­ive and biod­iversity rich Nation­al Park with bet­ter func­tion­ing, bet­ter con­nec­ted and more resi­li­ent ecosystems.

What does that look like?

i. Moor­land is more diverse

Moor­land is more struc­tur­ally diverse, provid­ing a great­er range of hab­it­ats for plants, insects, birds and mam­mals, and sup­port­ing a thriv­ing rur­al economy.

ii. Wood­land is expanding

Wood­lands are lar­ger and more nat­ur­al, deliv­er­ing bene­fits for biod­iversity, car­bon stor­age, water qual­ity and flood mitigation.

iii. Peat­lands are restored

Thou­sands of hec­tares of peat­land have been restored, trap­ping CO2, aid­ing spe­cies recov­ery, improv­ing water qual­ity and redu­cing flood­ing risk.

iv. Rivers are reconnected

Rivers have been restored and recon­nec­ted to cre­ate thriv­ing wet­lands and flood­plains, help­ing mit­ig­ate the impacts of cli­mate change.

v. Spe­cies are recovering

Spe­cies are recov­er­ing with­in a net­work of con­nec­ted hab­it­ats and are less reli­ant on tar­geted con­ser­va­tion activity.

vi. Farm­ing is car­bon neutral

Farm­ing is car­bon neut­ral or car­bon neg­at­ive, help­ing com­bat cli­mate change, enhance spe­cies diversity and provide a sus­tain­able source of food.

Our over­all out­come for People

A well­being eco­nomy that works for all the people of the Cairngorms.

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What does that look like?

i. Com­munit­ies are empowered

Res­id­ents are more involved in the way land is man­aged, with the num­ber of com­munity-owned or man­aged assets and social enter­prises increasing.

ii. Well­being comes first

Com­munit­ies are health­i­er, hap­pi­er and more resi­li­ent, bene­fit­ing from a diverse loc­al eco­nomy that puts well­being and the envir­on­ment first.

iii. Green jobs are growing

There has been a sig­ni­fic­ant increase in the num­ber of green jobs, with skills and train­ing oppor­tun­it­ies avail­able for people to meet the grow­ing demand.

iv. The Cairngorms is a Park for All

The Cairngorms is a true ​‘Park for All’, wel­com­ing and sup­port­ing people from more diverse back­grounds to live, work and vis­it here.

v. Volun­teer­ing is on the rise

Hun­dreds of volun­teers are help­ing look after the land­scape of the Nation­al Park, bring­ing bene­fits for nature and for their own health and wellbeing.

vi. Young people stay and thrive

The pro­por­tion of young and work­ing-age people has sta­bil­ised and begun to increase, sup­port­ing thriv­ing com­munit­ies and a robust economy.

Our over­all out­come for Place

A place that people want to live in, work in and vis­it that works for all.

What does that look like?

i. Hous­ing is more affordable

More people have access to afford­able hous­ing in the Nation­al Park and the pro­por­tion of second homes, vacant prop­er­ties and hol­i­day lets has decreased.

ii. Trans­port is more sustainable

People increas­ingly choose to leave their car at home, with res­id­ents and vis­it­ors being more act­ive and mak­ing reg­u­lar use of low and zero car­bon transport.

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iii. Com­munit­ies are connected

Com­munit­ies across the Nation­al Park are bet­ter con­nec­ted by a net­work of fully access­ible paths and cycle routes, improv­ing people’s health and wellbeing.

iv. Vis­it­or facil­it­ies are first class

Vis­it­ors choose to stay longer and travel at dif­fer­ent times of year, sup­por­ted by improved infra­struc­ture and high-qual­ity ranger services.

V. Cul­tur­al her­it­age is celebrated

The area’s rich cul­tur­al her­it­age is cared for and cel­eb­rated in com­munit­ies across the Cairngorms, from events and inter­pret­a­tion to storytelling and music.

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1. Nature object­ives

The inter­ac­tion between people and nature is cent­ral to address­ing many of the chal­lenges we face in the Nation­al Park and in soci­ety more gen­er­ally. There is a need to find solu­tions to the cli­mate emer­gency and biod­iversity crisis that have nature at their heart.

As the UK’s largest pro­tec­ted area home to one quarter of the UK’s rare and endangered spe­cies – the Cairngorms should be a rur­al exem­plar of this approach, and in this sec­tion, we identi­fy a range of meas­ures to con­serve and enhance nature in the Nation­al Park. This means address­ing a num­ber of sig­ni­fic­ant land use and eco­lo­gic­al issues over the next 25 years that will con­tin­ue to have pos­it­ive effects in the Nation­al Park for the next 200 years.

We do not pre­tend that this pro­cess will be easy. Achiev­ing the kind of sys­tem­ic change we are talk­ing about will require a massive col­lect­ive effort across all areas of soci­ety. We need to ensure that this takes place as part of a just trans­ition, sup­port­ing people in dif­fer­ent sec­tors to both take new oppor­tun­it­ies and share tra­di­tion­al skills that will be needed to deliv­er this plan.

We have set out a range of meas­ures to sup­port people and jobs across the Nation­al Park in the People and Place sec­tions of this plan, and we believe that there will be sig­ni­fic­ant oppor­tun­it­ies over the next 25 years for all those cur­rently involved in land man­age­ment. Along­side this, addi­tion­al jobs will be cre­ated in areas such as peat­land res­tor­a­tion, river res­tor­a­tion, spe­cies man­age­ment and hab­it­at enhancement.

There is also a need to base our approach on the best avail­able data and to adapt as we pro­ceed to ensure we are deliv­er­ing the long-term tar­gets set out in the plan. We have set out a series of tar­gets and indic­at­ors along­side each object­ive and we will be report­ing on these on an ongo­ing basis, track­ing our pro­gress and inform­ing future decision-making.

A1 Net zero

The cli­mate and nature crisis is the single biggest chal­lenge that we face and it is crit­ic­al that the Cairngorms Nation­al Park – as the largest pro­tec­ted area in the UK – is an exem­plar in achiev­ing net zero, devel­op­ing nature-based

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solu­tions and help­ing Scot­land as a whole meet its tar­gets as part of a just transition.

The Park Author­ity is work­ing with inde­pend­ent experts to estab­lish the Nation­al Park’s exist­ing car­bon foot­print and will use this to present a route map to net zero (and bey­ond) dur­ing 2023. This will present an ambi­tious but real­ist­ic action plan based on the best avail­able evid­ence, help­ing us identi­fy and track the key steps we need to take over the com­ing years.

Object­ive:

Ensure the Cairngorms Nation­al Park reaches net zero as soon as pos­sible and con­trib­utes all it can to help­ing Scot­land meet its net zero commitments.

Tar­get:

• By 2023, estab­lish the time­frame with­in which the Cairngorms Nation­al Park will be net zero and set a tar­get for becom­ing car­bon negative.

Indic­at­or:

• Annu­al inde­pend­ent pro­gress report on net zero for the Cairngorms Nation­al Park.

Actions by 2027:

• Car­bon audit and baseline estab­lished for the Cairngorms Nation­al Park in 2022.
• Estab­lish a date for the Cairngorms Nation­al Park to be net zero and car­bon neg­at­ive by 2023.
• Estab­lish a Com­munity Cli­mate Action Hub for the Nation­al Park.
• Her­it­age Hori­zons: Cairngorms 2030 programme.

Part­ners (along­side the Park Authority):

All part­ners.

A2 Wood­land expansion

Wood­land expan­sion to join up our exist­ing wood­lands is cru­cial to deliv­er biod­iversity and land­scape bene­fits, cap­ture and store car­bon diox­ide, provide a sus­tain­able source of tim­ber, improve water qual­ity and help reduce the risk of flooding.

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Our guid­ing prin­ciple in the Nation­al Park is ​‘the right tree in the right place for the right reas­on’, and this is espe­cially true for plant­ing asso­ci­ated with car­bon sequest­ra­tion and the wood­land car­bon code. There is also a need to ensure that the rel­at­ively lim­ited area of in-bye land in the Nation­al Park con­tin­ues to play a part in the nation’s food secur­ity and is pro­tec­ted from whole­sale con­ver­sion to woodland.

Diverse, well-planned, cli­mate-resi­li­ent and pro­duct­ive wood­land will con­tin­ue to gen­er­ate eco­nom­ic and con­ser­va­tion bene­fits in the Nation­al Park. This plan sets out a dir­ec­tion for wood­land that is about increas­ing areas of nat­ur­al regen­er­a­tion; how­ever, plant­ing and fen­cing will still be required in some places, not­ably those with lim­ited seed sources and where there is con­flict with herb­i­vore impacts (espe­cially in the early years of the plan). Fen­cing is recog­nised as an import­ant tool for wood­land man­age­ment but it can have neg­at­ive impacts. Its use should be care­fully con­sidered and, before fen­cing is agreed, estab­lish­ment through herb­i­vore man­age­ment should be encour­aged where the sur­round­ing land use con­text is favourable.

Finally, there is a need to recog­nise that the man­age­ment of exist­ing wood­lands plays a key role in deliv­er­ing biod­iversity, recre­ation and eco­nom­ic out­comes and there needs to be a con­tin­ued focus on long-term forest plan­ning, hab­it­at enhance­ment, high-qual­ity tim­ber pro­duc­tion, rur­al employ­ment, respons­ible access and com­munity engagement.

Object­ive:

Increase the amount of wood­land in the Nation­al Park to sup­port lar­ger, more nat­ur­al wood­lands, expand­ing in places up to a nat­ur­al treeline, provid­ing con­nec­tions across river catch­ments and around the cent­ral core of the mountains.

Tar­get:

• A min­im­um of 35,000 ha of new wood­land cov­er cre­ated by 2045, which: a) Includes a min­im­um of 80% nat­ive wood­land. b) Includes a min­im­um of 10,000 ha of nat­ur­al regen­er­a­tion without plant­ing. c