Form­al Board Paper 5

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh 23 March 2026

For decision

Title: Notice of forth­com­ing Board elec­tion for Con­vener, Deputy Con­vener and Com­mit­tee Chairs Pre­pared by: Mari­aan Pita, Exec­ut­ive Sup­port Manager

Pur­pose

This paper noti­fies the board of forth­com­ing elec­tions for the offices of Con­vener and Deputy Con­vener and pro­poses arrange­ments for the con­duct of those elec­tions. Stand­ing orders require that timetables for all elec­tions are estab­lished at least two months in advance of terms of appoint­ment com­ing to an end. This paper sat­is­fies the stand­ing orders in this regard.

Recom­mend­a­tions

The Board is asked to: a) Agree elec­tion pro­cess of the Board Con­vener, Per­form­ance Chair and Resources Chair. b) Agree noti­fic­a­tion of forth­com­ing elec­tion of Board Deputy Con­vener and Audit and Risk Chair. c) Agree that the timetable for Board Deputy Con­vener and Audit and Risk Chair will be con­sidered at the Form­al Board meet­ing In June.

Back­ground Information

1. The Board Convener’s term comes to an end on 31 July 2026, and Deputy Con­vener on 07 Septem­ber 2026.
2. The elec­tion will fol­low the pro­cess set out in Stand­ing Orders, which rep­lic­ates the pro­cess adop­ted by the Board for elec­tions in 2023 of the Board Con­vener and Deputy Con­vener, and for a num­ber of elec­ted roles since that time. These elec­tions were held elec­tron­ic­ally, avoid­ing the need to sched­ule the elec­tion at the time of a meet­ing and enabled all mem­bers to par­ti­cip­ate in the vote irre­spect­ive of their abil­ity to be present on a spe­cif­ic date, while retain­ing full anonym­ity of votes cast.
3. The fol­low­ing com­mit­tee roles will also require elec­tions to be held at the appro­pri­ate time, as the cur­rent terms of office come to an end: a) Resources Com­mit­tee and Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee Chairs: term for each chair ends 25 July 2026 b) Audit and Risk Com­mit­tee Chair: term ends 31 Octo­ber 2026 c) Resources Com­mit­tee Deputy Chair: term ends 09 Novem­ber 2026 d) Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee Deputy Chair: term ends 07 Decem­ber 2026
4. This paper takes for­ward these matters.

Elec­tion of Board Con­vener and Board Deputy Convener

1. This paper provides board with advance notice under para­graph 4 of the Stand­ing Orders of the end of the terms of office for both the Board Con­vener and Board Deputy Con­vener, due to con­clude at the end of July and early Septem­ber 2026 respectively.
2. The elec­tions will be held firstly for the Board Con­vener, and secondly for the Board Deputy Con­vener, with the suc­cess­ful can­did­ates tak­ing up appoint­ment fol­low­ing the con­clu­sion of the cur­rent terms on 01 August 2026 and 08 Septem­ber 2026, respectively.
3. A pro­posed elec­tion timetable is set out below.

Elec­tion of Com­mit­tee Chairs

1. As noted in the Stand­ing Orders the Com­mit­tee Chair elec­tions are under­taken as fol­lows: a) > ​“Com­mit­tee Chairs shall be elec­ted by the full Board using the vot­ing pro­ced­ures set out in these Stand­ing Orders for the elec­tion of the Board Con­vener. Com­mit­tee Chairs so elec­ted shall be a mem­ber of the Com­mit­tee in terms of that Committee’s terms of ref­er­ence. Any sub­sequent require­ment for review of the mem­ber­ship of the Com­mit­tee in ques­tion shall be under­taken by the Con­vener and the Gov­ernance Com­mit­tee. The Deputy Chair of Com­mit­tees shall be appoin­ted by each Com­mit­tee from among the mem­ber­ship of the Com­mit­tee agreed by the Board.”
2. The elec­tion of Com­mit­tee Chairs shall fol­low after the elec­tion of the Board Con­vener and Board Deputy Con­vener in the fol­low­ing order:
   • Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee Chair
   • Resources Com­mit­tee Chair
   • Audit and Risk Com­mit­tee Chair
3. Elec­tion of Board Con­vener will com­mence with an invite for nom­in­a­tions, in accord­ance with sec­tion 4a of Stand­ing Orders, on Monday 20 April 2026. The elec­tion pro­cess will fol­low the fol­low­ing timetable:
   • Monday 20 April invite for nom­in­a­tions and seconds issued
   • Monday 4 May peri­od for nom­in­a­tions and seconds closed
   • Monday 4 May list of val­id nom­in­a­tions issued to board
   • Tues­day 5 May in event of two or more can­did­ates, sup­port­ing state­ments issued
   • Wed­nes­day 6 May elec­tron­ic bal­lot opened
   • Fri­day 8 May elec­tron­ic bal­lot closed at 15:00
   • Fri­day 8 May res­ult of elec­tron­ic bal­lot announced
4. Elec­tion of the Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee Chair will com­mence with an invite for nom­in­a­tions, in accord­ance with sec­tion 4a of Stand­ing Orders, on Monday 18 May 2026. The elec­tion pro­cess will fol­low the fol­low­ing timetable:
   • Monday 18 May invite for nom­in­a­tions and seconds issued
   • Monday 1 June peri­od for nom­in­a­tions and seconds closed
   • Monday 1 June list of val­id nom­in­a­tions issued to board
   • Tues­day 2 June in event of two or more can­did­ates, sup­port­ing state­ments issued
   • Wed­nes­day 3 June elec­tron­ic bal­lot opened
   • Fri­day 5 June elec­tron­ic bal­lot closed at 15:00
   • Fri­day 5 June res­ult of elec­tron­ic bal­lot announced
5. Elec­tion of the Resources Com­mit­tee Chair will com­mence with an invite for nom­in­a­tions, in accord­ance with sec­tion 4a of Stand­ing Orders, on Monday 15 June 2026. The elec­tion pro­cess will fol­low the fol­low­ing timetable:
   • Monday 15 June invite for nom­in­a­tions and seconds issued
   • Monday 29 June peri­od for nom­in­a­tions and seconds closed
   • Monday 29 June list of val­id nom­in­a­tions issued to board
   • Tues­day 30 June in event of two or more can­did­ates, sup­port­ing state­ments issued
   • Wed­nes­day 1 July elec­tron­ic bal­lot opened
   • Fri­day 3 July elec­tron­ic bal­lot closed at 15:00
   • Fri­day 3 July res­ult of elec­tron­ic bal­lot announced
6. In the event that the Board Con­vener or Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee Chair elec­tion has a single can­did­ate from the nom­in­a­tion pro­cess, the above timetables may be moved for­ward to util­ise days no longer required for cir­cu­la­tion of sup­port­ing state­ments and elec­tron­ic ballots.
7. Timetables for Board Deputy Con­vener and Audit and Risk Com­mit­tee Chair will be presen­ted to the June board meeting.

Mari­aan Pita 05 March 2026 Mariaanpita@​cairngorms.​co.​uk