Annex 1

Core Paths Plan review – inform­al con­sulta­tion summary

Back­ground

1. The Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity is under­tak­ing a review of the Core Paths Plan. The first stage of this was an inform­al con­sulta­tion which allowed any­one to feed into the review pro­cess and com­ment on the pro­posed amend­ments, the net­work as a whole or sug­gest fur­ther core path additions.
2. This report presents an over­view of the inform­al con­sulta­tion, the responses received, and the most pop­u­lar mat­ters raised.

Con­sulta­tion overview

1. The inform­al con­sulta­tion ran over three months, from 29 May to 31 August 2025.

Online

1. The con­sulta­tion was presen­ted online on the Nation­al Park’s web­site at Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Core Paths Plan con­sulta­tion. This included an online map show­ing exist­ing core paths and pro­posed amend­ments (addi­tions, realign­ments and removals). Mem­bers of the pub­lic were able to drop pins on the map to com­ment on exist­ing core paths, pro­posed amend­ments or on any loc­a­tion on the map to sug­gest an addi­tion­al core path. A ​“thumbs-up” agree reac­tion could also be added to any­one else’s comment.
2. A list of core path amend­ments was also avail­able, and com­ments could altern­at­ively be sub­mit­ted by email.

Stake­hold­ers

1. Where addi­tion­al core paths were pro­posed the rel­ev­ant land man­agers were con­tac­ted dir­ectly and invited to respond.
2. Vari­ous agen­cies, recre­ation­al bod­ies, landown­ers, ranger ser­vices, com­munity bod­ies etc were also con­tac­ted and invited to view the con­sulta­tion and respond.
3. A list of these is in Annex 1.1

Pro­mo­tion

1. The inform­al con­sulta­tion was pro­moted on the Nation­al Park’s web­site, social media and in the Cairn magazine (pos­ted to all house­holds in the Nation­al Park). It was also pro­moted via part­ner newsletters.
2. The Access Team also met with sev­er­al com­munity organ­isa­tions dur­ing the con­sulta­tion to dis­cuss the review fur­ther. In addi­tion, they atten­ded vari­ous oth­er events includ­ing the Cairngorms com­munity coun­cils annu­al gathering.
3. Fur­ther details in Annex 1.2.

Con­sulta­tion responses received

Responses

1. A total of 208 spe­cif­ic responses were received: a) 152 online com­ments* sub­mit­ted via the web­site b) 140 reac­tions online (agree­ments with com­ments) c) 56 dir­ect responses received (emails, phone calls, com­ments from in-per­son events)

Note: The doc­u­ment con­tains a visu­al rep­res­ent­a­tion (pie chart) show­ing 208 responses received (Dir­ect responses and Online responses) and a sep­ar­ate visu­al for 140 reactions.

*155 web­site com­ments but included three duplic­ate responses (sub­mit­ted twice by the same person)

Geo­graph­ic­al distribution

1. Most responses related to Badenoch and Strath­spey, fol­lowed by Deeside.

Note: The doc­u­ment con­tains two bar charts: ​“Num­ber of responses by region” and ​“Num­ber of responses by com­munity coun­cil”. These charts are not con­vert­ible to text.

Respond­ents

1. A total of 77 people respon­ded to the con­sulta­tion, 47 respon­ded as a mem­ber of the pub­lic, 19 on behalf of a landown­er, six on behalf of a com­munity group (four on behalf of com­munity coun­cils and two on behalf of com­munity path groups) and five on behalf of an organ­isa­tion (His­tor­ic Envir­on­ment Scot­land, Roy­al Soci­ety for the Pro­tec­tion of Birds (RSPB) Scot­land, Brit­ish Horse Soci­ety (BHS) Scot­land, Scot­ways and Ram­blers Scotland).

Note: The doc­u­ment includes a pie chart show­ing the break­down of respondents:

• Organ­isa­tion 6%
• Com­munity group 8%
• Landown­er 25%
• Pub­lic 61%

Responses received

1. Gen­er­al a) 11 gen­er­al responses which included com­ments on the whole net­work or paths in general.
2. Exist­ing core paths a) 61 com­ments about exist­ing core paths:

   i.  22 related to maintenance or suggestions for upgrading routes
   ii. 28 suggested minor realignments / mapping updates
   iii. 11 proposed de-designating existing core paths
   

3. Pro­pos­ing an addi­tion­al core path a) 50 com­ments sug­gest­ing an addi­tion­al 39 routes for core path des­ig­na­tion, of these five were sug­ges­tions for routes that do not exist and would require construction.
4. Com­ment­ing on a pro­posed amendment a) 86 com­ments in rela­tion to the sug­ges­ted amend­ments; 43 agree­ing, 34 dis­agree­ing and nine gen­er­al comments

Note: The doc­u­ment includes a pie chart titled ​“Type of response”:

• Gen­er­al com­ment 5%
• Sug­gest addi­tion­al core path 24%
• Pro­posed amend­ment 42%
• Exist­ing core path 29%

Mat­ters arising

1. The fol­low­ing themes have emerged from the inform­al con­sulta­tion as being the most pop­u­lar mat­ters of interest, by volume of com­ments received. a) Nethy Bridge – the Tul­loch moor track b) Glen­more – the Allt Mor path from Glen­more to Cairngorm Moun­tain c) Dul­nain bridge to Bal­naan road (unclas­si­fied road to Car­rbridge) d) Kin­gussie – the Spey­side Way to Ruthven bar­racks e) Aviemore – Car­rbridge pro­posed NMU (non-motor­ised user route) f) New­ton­more – the Wild­cat trail at Allt Laraidh gorge g) Lag­gan – core paths on main roads h) Remov­al of core paths over private level crossings

What hap­pens next

1. All the feed­back and com­ments received dur­ing the inform­al con­sulta­tion will be reviewed and assessed as required, and the Loc­al Out­door Access For­um (LOAF) consulted.
2. Fol­low­ing this review peri­od, the next stage will be to pro­duce the Draft Core Paths Plan. The Draft Plan will then go out for a fur­ther form­al 12-week con­sulta­tion (expec­ted Spring 2026).

Annex 1.1

Stake­hold­ers

1. The fol­low­ing stake­hold­ers were con­tac­ted regard­ing the inform­al consultation:
2. Agen­cies: a) Cairngorms Busi­ness Part­ner­ship b) Forestry and Land Scot­land (FLS) c) His­tor­ic Envir­on­ment Scot­land d) Nation­al Trust for Scot­land (Mar Lodge Estate) e) NatureScot f) Net­work Rail g) RSPB (nation­al and Aber­nethy and Insh reserves) h) Stra­tegic Trans­port Part­ner­ships (HiTrans and Nestrans)
3. Land based: a) Cairngorms Crofters and Farm­ers group b) Indi­vidu­al landown­ers — 29 land man­agers (where addi­tion­al core paths pro­posed on land) c) Man­aging for Vis­it­ors work­ing group d) Nation­al Farm­ers Uni­on Scot­land (NFUS) e) Scot­tish Land and Estates f) Rangers Ser­vices in the Nation­al Park:

   i.  Angus Alive
   ii. Aberdeenshire council
   iii. Balmoral Estate
   iv. Cairngorm Mountain
   v.  EDF Energy
   vi. Forestry and Land Scotland
   vii. Glen Tanar Estate
   viii. Invercauld Estate
   ix. National Trust for Scotland (Killiecrankie / Mar Lodge)
   x.  NatureScot (Dinnet reserve)
   xi. Rothiemurchus Estate
   

4. Recre­ation­al bodies: a) Devel­op­ing Moun­tain Bik­ing in Scot­land (DMinBS) b) Out­door Access Trust for Scot­land (OATS) c) Scot­tish Ori­enteer­ing d) Sport Scot­land (Glen­more Lodge) e) Sus­trans f) Scot­tish Out­door Recre­ation Alli­ance (SORA):

   i.  BHS Scotland
   ii. Cycling Scotland
   iii. Mountaineering Scotland
   iv. Paddle Scotland
   v.  Ramblers Scotland
   vi. Scottish Sports Association
   vii. ScotWays
   

5. Com­munity bodies: a) Com­munity coun­cils b) Com­munity path groups c) Health Walk lead­ers d) Marr Area Part­ner­ship (MAP) e) Vol­un­tary Action Badenoch and Strath­spey (VABS) f) Com­munity Wood­lands:

   i.  Anagach Woods Trust
   ii. Insh Community Holdings
   iii. Kingussie Community Development Company (KCDC)
   iv. Braemar Community Limited
   v.  Laggan Forest Trust
   

6. Oth­er: a) Cairngorms Nation­al Park’s Equal­ity Advis­ory Pan­el — con­sul­ted in Janu­ary pri­or to the inform­al con­sulta­tion. b) Cairngorms Volun­teer rangers c) Out­door Access officers at:

   i.  Highland council
   ii. Aberdeenshire council
   iii. Perth and Kinross council
   iv. Moray council
   v.  Angus council
   

Annex 1.2

Pro­mo­tion

1. The inform­al con­sulta­tion was pro­moted through pub­li­city and events: (all dates 2025)
2. Pub­li­city: a) News item — Cairngorms Nation­al Park news item ​“Call for views on Core paths plan review” – on web­site and social media (June) b) Social media — Cairngorms Nation­al Park social media remind­er (August) c) Cairn magazine – snip­pet in magazine pos­ted to all house­holds in the Nation­al Park (August) d) News­let­ters:

   i.  Highlands and Islands Climate Hub newsletter (June and July editions)
   ii. Highlands Environmental Forum (2 x July editions and August edition)
   iii. Marr Area Partnership newsletter (August edition)
   

3. Events: a) Com­munity events:

   i.  **Gathering of Community Councils** - attendance and display at Cairngorms 'Gathering of community councils' event (April). Information about, and links to, the consultation in two emails to all Community Councils (April).
   ii. **Laggan Community Paths and Playpark event** – attendance and display at drop in evening event (June)
   iii. **Kingussie community meeting** – presentation on core paths and discussion session with representatives from Kingussie Community Development Company (KCDC), community council, path group and health walks group (August)
   iv. **Health Walk leaders** (Badenoch and Strathspey) – presentation at event (May)
   

   b) Cairngorms Volun­teer rangers (new intake) – updated at event (May)