LOAF Paper 3 Core paths plan review

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Paper 3 13 Novem­ber 2024 Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Page 1 of 4

CAIRNGORMS LOC­AL OUT­DOOR ACCESS FORUM

Core Paths Plan Review Pre­pared by: Vicky Hilton, Out­door Access Officer

Pur­pose

1. This paper provides an update on the plan to review the Core Paths Plan and the LOAF’s role in the review process.
2. The LOAF group is invited to nom­in­ate a mem­ber to sit on the pro­ject steer­ing group.
3. The LOAF group is asked to review the cur­rent Core Paths Plan object­ives and make any recom­mend­a­tions on their ongo­ing rel­ev­ance and appropriateness.

Back­ground Under sec­tion 17 of the Land Reform (Scot­land) Act 2003 (LRA or the Act) the Park Author­ity has a duty to draw up a plan of core paths ​“suf­fi­cient for the pur­pose of giv­ing reas­on­able access through­out their area”.

The cur­rent Core Paths Plan (CPP), based on a pub­lic con­sulta­tion pro­cess in tan­dem with the Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan, was adop­ted in 2015.

Sec­tion 20 of the Act gives the Park Author­ity the power to review the adop­ted plan ​“at such times as they con­sider appro­pri­ate and on Min­is­ters requir­ing them to do so.” The Park Author­ity received such min­is­teri­al dir­ec­tion on the 8^th of July 2024.

One of the roles of the LOAF groups (as per Sec­tion 25 of the Act) is to advise the Author­ity on ​“the draw­ing up and adop­tion of the Core Paths Plan.”

Review of Core paths We con­sider the cur­rent Core Paths Plan is suf­fi­cient in provid­ing reas­on­able access across the Park and are not look­ing to make numer­ous sig­ni­fic­ant changes. There are sev­er­al amend­ments, cor­rec­tions and updates that are required in rela­tion to spe­cif­ic paths. This review is also an oppor­tun­ity to eval­u­ate pro­vi­sion in any areas of change eg newly con­struc­ted paths, new hous­ing devel­op­ment links, recre­ation­al changes, act­ive travel pro­pos­als etc.

Examples of likely amend­ments: Minor amendments

• Align­ment update — digit­ising error need­ing cor­rec­ted to cor­rectly rep­res­ent path
• Plan­ning update — path super­seded / diver­ted as a res­ult of plan­ning permission

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Major amend­ments Paper 3 13 Novem­ber 2024 Page 2 of 4

• New core path des­ig­na­tions — a newly con­struc­ted path, an exist­ing path being des­ig­nated or pro­posed new path (real­ist­ic­ally delivered with­in two years) for example:

  • Spey­side Way, Aviemore to New­ton­more (newly con­struc­ted path)
  • Dul­nain to Grant­own pro­posed link (pro­posed new path)

• Core path modi­fic­a­tion – a change or realign­ment of a route for a spe­cif­ic reas­on or benefit.

• Core path de-clas­si­fic­a­tion — for reas­ons such as; no path there on the ground, path closed and not sus­tain­able to repair or un-sus­tain­able to main­tain, for example:

  • Remov­al of Allt Laraidh gorge path at New­ton­more (closed and bey­ond repair)
  • Remov­al of all core paths over private level cross­ings – Dal­nas­pid­al and New­ton­more (Min­is­teri­al instruction)

The review process

The Core Paths Plan review will take a num­ber of stages:

1. Devel­op­ment (Nov 24 – Mar 25)

   • Pro­duce engage­ment and com­mu­nic­a­tions plan
   • Intern­al review of core paths (includ­ing act­ive travel net­works and con­sulta­tion with con­ser­va­tion team)
   • Pro­duc­tion of core paths plan show­ing pro­posed amendments

2. Inform­al con­sulta­tion (April – Aug 25) Present­a­tion of our pro­posed amend­ments, invite feed­back and oth­er suggestions.

   • Online map-based con­sulta­tion web­site – open for 4 – 5 months for any mem­ber of the pub­lic to make comments
   • Dir­ect tar­geted con­sulta­tion in key com­munit­ies / com­munit­ies of interest
   • Stake­hold­er consultation

3. Review (Oct 25 – Feb 26)

   • Review of com­ments / feed­back LOAF (Nov 25)
   • Draft Core Paths Plan produced
   • Addi­tion­al reports (Equal­it­ies Impact Assess­ment EQIA, Stra­tegic Envir­on­ment­al Assess­ment SEA, Hab­it­ats Reg­u­la­tion Assess­ment HRA)
   • Sign off draft plan LOAF (Feb 26)

4. Form­al con­sulta­tion (Apr – Jun 26)

   • 12-week pub­lic con­sulta­tion of draft Core Paths Plan, pub­lic invited to make objec­tions and representations

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

1. Review (July – Aug 26)

   • Review of rep­res­ent­a­tions (LOAF)
   • Final plan pro­duced / with list of out­stand­ing objec­tions Paper 3 13 Novem­ber 2024 Page 3 of 4

2. Sub­mis­sion and adop­tion (~Sept 26)

Devel­op­ment stage – LOAF role

1. Pro­ject steer­ing group. A small intern­al steer­ing group of three to four mem­bers of staff will be formed to over­see and mon­it­or the pro­ject. It is anti­cip­ated that the group will meet quarterly (dur­ing office hours) or at a time when key decision mak­ing is required.

The LOAF group is invited to nom­in­ate a mem­ber to sit on the pro­ject steer­ing group.

1. Object­ives of the Core Paths Plan. The object­ives of the 2015 Plan identi­fy that the core paths net­work will:

a) help to con­serve the Park’s nat­ur­al and cul­tur­al her­it­age and encour­age people to enjoy it in a respons­ible way

b) help those liv­ing and work­ing on the land man­age access

c) help to deliv­er the pri­or­it­ies for each area iden­ti­fied in Act­ive Cairngorms

d) provide for a wide range of activities

e) provide for a wide range of abilities

f) include a wide range of pop­u­lar routes and

g) include paths with­in, around and between com­munit­ies and to pub­lic trans­port con­nec­tions and places of loc­al importance

The LOAF group is asked to con­sider if these object­ives are still cur­rent, if there are any recom­men­ded amend­ments, and if they are fit for pur­pose for us to test the suf­fi­ciency of the Plan against.

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Paper 3 13 Novem­ber 2024 Page 4 of 4