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CLOAF_Paper2_ManagingforVisitors

Cairngorms Loc­al Out­door Access For­um Paper 2

CAIRNGORMS LOC­AL OUT­DOOR ACCESS FORUM

Title: Man­aging for Vis­it­ors in Cairngorms Sum­mer 2021

Pre­pared by: Pete Crane, Head of Vis­it­or Services

Pur­pose: To update mem­bers on work with part­ners to pro­mote and encour­age safe, respons­ible & enjoy­able access to the Nation­al Park post Covid

Man­aging for Vis­it­ors Sum­mer 2021

Intro­duc­tion

  1. This inform­a­tion paper provides a sum­mary of the con­tinu­ing part­ner­ship work under­taken in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park to encour­age vis­it­ors to have a safe and enjoy­able exper­i­ence in the sum­mer of 2021.

Part­ner and Com­munity Engagement

  1. In spring 2020 CNPA set up two vis­it­or work­ing groups that con­tin­ue to vir­tu­ally meet reg­u­larly to dis­cuss col­lect­ive work and support:-

    a. Cairngorms Tour­ism Emer­gency Response Group com­pris­ing CNPA, Cairngorms Busi­ness Part­ner­ship (CBP), Vis­it Aber­deen­shire, Moray Spey­side, Vis­it Scot­land, Loc­al Author­it­ies, High­lands and Island Enter­prise b. Man­aging for People Part­ners a wide ran­ging group includ­ing pub­lic private and third sec­tor land man­agers, LA’s, tour­ism industry and Police Scotland

  2. CBP and CNPA have hos­ted quarterly vir­tu­al meet­ings since May 2020 to update and engage with the fol­low­ing groups:-

    a. Loc­al Author­ity Coun­cil­lors b. Com­munity Coun­cil­lors c. Residents

The most recent fifth round’ of meet­ings were July 2021.

  1. CNPA and CBP con­tin­ue to attend Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment Nation­al Groups includ­ing; Com­mu­nic­a­tions, Infra­struc­ture, & Out­door Access, and UK Nation­al Park vis­it­or man­age­ment group.

  2. This engage­ment work con­tin­ues to influ­ence & sup­port the activ­ity sum­mar­ised below.

Man­aging for Vis­it­ors Plans

  1. Live plans for key rur­al areas of the Nation­al Park were pro­duced in 2020 and again this year. These areas identi­fy the key work that needs to be under­taken to encour­age safe, respons­ible and enjoy­able access to the Cairngorms. They are reg­u­larly dis­cussed at part­ner­ship meet­ings. The cur­rent plans are on CNPA web­site Man­aging for Vis­it­ors — Cairngorms Nation­al Park Authority

Vis­it­or Messaging

  1. CBP with CNPA sup­port developed in 2020 the #Cairngorm­s­To­geth­er mes­saging that has four key pos­it­ive requests:

    • Under­stand the latest guidance
    • Plan ahead
    • Adapt to the situation
    • Be kind to each other
  2. This con­tin­ues to be widely used to encour­age vis­it­ors to safely enjoy the Nation­al Park and is now linked with the nation­al call to #Respect­Pro­tec­tEn­joy.

  3. Key areas that vis­it­ors needed to know were open are covered on CNPA and CBP web­sites a. Pub­lic Toi­lets b. Car Parks c. Vis­it­or Attractions

  4. Vis­it­or inform­a­tion on what facil­it­ies are open has been fur­ther improved by CBP on the What’s Open page What’s Open in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park (vis​it​cairngorms​.com)

  5. CBP are again devel­op­ing videos pro­mot­ing safe vis­its to the Nation­al Park in 2021, and CNPA has filmed Make it Yours’ aimed at vis­it­or facing staff. This present­a­tion shares why the Cairngorms is a Nation­al Park, why it is a spe­cial place and what, based on vis­it­or sur­veys, people are likely to want to see and do while vis­it­ing Intro­du­cing the Cairngorms Nation­al Park – Make It Yours — YouTube

  6. Dur­ing 2020 an increase in lit­ter­ing, human waste and irre­spons­ible fires was observed and as the Access Author­ity CNPA has redesigned the Tread Lightly in Cairngorms cam­paign to focus on these issues. CNPA has offered Green Recov­ery Fund grant to six com­munit­ies to sup­port lit­ter picks and will be pro­mot­ing Keep Scot­land Beau­ti­ful Sum­mer Clean, May 28th — June 20th.

  7. Six rur­al areas with­in the Nation­al Park were reg­u­larly over capa­city in 2020 and again this year so CNPA con­tin­ues to focus on pro­mot­ing the com­munit­ies around the

Nation­al Park, that remained rel­at­ively quiet, and the 666 miles of core paths, many of which are shown on 17 com­munity path leaf­lets: the most pop­u­lar vis­it­or activ­it­ies are sight­see­ing (61%) and going for a short walk (57%).

  1. Anti­cip­at­ing an increase in camper­vans CNPA has sup­por­ted CBP in pro­mot­ing areas of the Nation­al Park where camper­vans are safe and wel­come includ­ing waste dis­pos­al sites. Leaf­lets were widely cir­cu­lated by the Fam­ily of Cairngorms Rangers. Web link here Version-2-Campervan-Guide.pdf (vis​it​cairngorms​.com)

  2. Vari­able road signs fun­ded by CNPA have been installed in Glen­more and at the access to Loch Muick with fur­ther signs ren­ted by Aber­deen­shire Coun­cil on A93. These provide up to date inform­a­tion on busy sites sup­por­ted by social media updates.

  3. CNPA, Forestry and Land Scot­land and High­land Coun­cil fun­ded Police Scot­land to provide two staff to sup­port the rangers in Glen­more on Fri­day and Sat­urday even­ings dur­ing the school sum­mer hol­i­day. Their remit was, with the rangers, to encour­age respons­ible access and enforce if only if required. This work was wel­comed by res­id­ents and visitors.

  4. CNPA staff have also con­tin­ued to be inter­viewed by nation­al media shar­ing the part­ner­ship work detailed in this paper, and the on the ground exper­i­ence that the vast major­ity of vis­it­ors want to behave respons­ibly: to do the right thing’.

Ranger Ser­vices

  1. Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment fund­ing has been secured by CNPA to con­tin­ue the employ­ment of 9 sea­son­al rangers from March to Octo­ber 2021 along with a fur­ther five full time CNPA rangers appoin­ted and in post from June. Annex I lists a sum­mary of this year’s cur­rent CNPA ranger activity.

  2. CNPA has also secured fund­ing to train and employ five Kick­start Youth Place­ment oppor­tun­it­ies for rangers – offer­ing a start in this type of career for young adults aged 1824 on Uni­ver­sal Cred­it. Four are in post.

  3. CNPA has increased its grant in aid to six part­ner ranger ser­vices (private estates or char­it­able trusts) by 10% in 2021 to fur­ther sup­port part­ners in man­aging for visitors.

  4. Forestry and Land Scot­land, Nation­al Trust for Scot­land, Nature Scot­land and Bal­mor­al Estate are all employ­ing addi­tion rangers/​visitor staff this year. The Nation­al Park has twice as many rangers meet­ing vis­it­ors this year com­pared with 2019.

  5. The Fam­ily of Cairngorms Rangers (13 part­ner ser­vices and CNPA) com­mu­nic­ate and share exper­i­ences via mobile phone groups.

Vis­it­or Infrastructure

  1. Build­ing on the work of last year CNPA has offered cap­it­al fund­ing to six part­ner vis­it­or infra­struc­ture pro­jects around the Nation­al Park this year including:

    • Two upgrades to coun­tryside attrac­tion pub­lic toilets
    • Two camper­van sites
    • Two coun­tryside car parks
  2. Fund­ing is also in place for fur­ther road design and road­side park­ing at Glen­more with work sched­uled for this autumn by High­land Coun­cil Roads Author­ity. This includes double yel­low lines with­in the village.

  3. Com­munit­ies of Grant­own on Spey and Kin­craig are scop­ing path improve­ments to Spey­side Way to improve loc­al access for res­id­ents and visitors.

  4. CNPA has secured fund­ing from Vis­it Scot­land Rur­al Tour­ism Infra­struc­ture Fund to scope addi­tion­al cap­it­al pro­ject going for­ward for the next 3 – 5 years.

Dis­cus­sion

  1. The sum­mer of 2021 has been busy with key rur­al hot­spots over­loaded dur­ing dry sum­mer days. Lit­ter­ing, human waste, fires and dog beha­viour con­tin­ue to present issues for rangers to deal with’ (see Annex I) includ­ing one ser­i­ous six hec­tare forest fire in Glen­more. Nev­er­the­less informed feed­back from staff on the ground’ has been that beha­viour has been bet­ter than anti­cip­ated. This is sum­mar­ised below in our feed­back to Scot­tish Government:
Loc­a­tionVis­it­or pres­sure (RAG rat­ing)Any incid­ents of note (Amber or Red rat­ing only)Action taken (Amber or Red rat­ing only)
Cairngorms Nation­al ParkAMBERExtremely busy par­tic­u­larly with overnight camp­ing at key hot­spots, day trip­pers and issues regard­ing park­ing. Camp fire and BBQ’s num­bers below expec­ted. Ranger patrols able to edu­cate and engage pos­it­ively with most folks.Over­flow car parks util­ised at Loch Muick and Linn of Dee with tem­por­ary road clos­ures enacted when car parks are full. Joint patrolling by Police Scot­land, Scot­tish Fire and Res­cue Scot­land, stew­ards and coun­tryside rangers in Glen­more. Sig­ni­fic­ant pres­sure build­ing around access to water for swim­ming and paddle board­ing with park­ing issues and dis­turb­ance to wild­life. Loc­al man­age­ment meas­ures in some places working.
  1. Fur­ther work on vis­it­or infra­struc­ture detailed above is required and a clear­er, con­cise and more con­sist­ent approach to pos­it­ive vis­it­or mes­saging is required. CNPA will again be review­ing Tread lightly in Cairngorms’. Fur­ther work is required on pro­mot­ing less busy areas of the Nation­al Park that want, and have capa­city, for more visitors.
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