LOAF_Paper3_CaseworkReview

CAIRNGORMS LOC­AL OUT­DOOR ACCESS FOR­UM PAPER 3

CAIRNGORMS LOC­AL OUT­DOOR ACCESS FORUM

Title: Update on case­work volumes and types over peri­od 2019 – 2021

Pre­pared by: Doug Stew­art, Out­door Access Officer

Pur­pose:

1. To update mem­bers on case­work hand­ling of all types includ­ing monthly break­downs and sum­mary of key types by volume.

2. To con­sider find­ings and any rel­ev­ant issues arising.

Back­ground

1. The Nation­al Park Author­ity has a num­ber of duties and respons­ib­il­it­ies requir­ing pro­vi­sion of advice to intern­al col­leagues and key part­ners along­side respond­ing to both gen­er­al enquir­ies from the pub­lic and also com­plaints over obstruc­tions to and/​or inter­fer­ence with the exer­cise of stat­utory access rights.

2. In order to both mon­it­or and pro­cess these tasks a ​‘case­work’ record is main­tained. This ​‘log’ records num­bers and types of case­work includ­ing dates, hand­ling times and a record of con­tacts made dur­ing processing.

Case­work Handling

1. Man­age­ment of case­work work­load is an ongo­ing con­sid­er­a­tion with the present sys­tem alloc­at­ing case­work on the basis of a 50:50 split between the two Out­door Access Officers in post. Depend­ing on the com­plex­ity or nature of any giv­en case col­lab­or­a­tion and dis­cus­sion often takes place towards ensur­ing bal­anced decision mak­ing. Pro­cessing, record­ing and alloc­a­tion is sup­por­ted by an admin­is­trat­ive sup­port officer.

Ana­lys­is of Annu­al Records

1. The cur­rent record shows a rel­at­ive increase in case­work for the 6 month review peri­od (first half of the cal­en­dar year) which cor­rel­ates with a gradu­al upward trend over the same peri­od since 2019.

2. Records for the 6 month review peri­od com­pare as follows:

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CAIRNGORMS LOC­AL OUT­DOOR ACCESS FOR­UM PAPER 3

1. Plan­ning and Forestry con­sulta­tions con­trib­uted to a spike in case­work dur­ing March with rel­at­ive increases dur­ing Janu­ary and Feb­ru­ary also evident.

2. Case­work hand­ling capa­city and pro­ced­ures have proven resi­li­ent to fluc­tu­ations in num­bers and types of issues.

3. Not­able cases over the peri­od are as follows:

• Case 532 Glen Muick Deer Farm

• Case 453 Farr, Loch Insh

• 2021 — 136

• 2020 – 71 (lock­down)
• 2019-105

D. Stew­art 11/08/21

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CAIRNGORMS LOC­AL OUT­DOOR ACCESS FOR­UM PAPER 3

Case­work Totals by Month/​Year: all Categories

	2019	2020	2021
Jan	8	7	16
Feb	17	12	14
Mar	19	15	40
Apr	19	17	26
May	21	7	15
Jun	21	13	24
Jul	23	39
Aug	20	16
Sep	10	26
Oct	15	27
Nov	10	14
Dec	9	22

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CAIRNGORMS LOC­AL OUT­DOOR ACCESS FOR­UM PAPER 3

Case­work Totals by Month/​Year: all Cat­egor­ies ex. Plan­ning & Forestry

	2019	2020	2021
Jan	4	4	15
Feb	7	9	10
Mar	14	6	26
Apr	17	12	19
May	15	4	7
Jun	14	10	19
Jul	14	28
Aug	14	13
Sep	7	18
Oct	8	19
Nov	7	10
Dec	4	13

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CAIRNGORMS LOC­AL OUT­DOOR ACCESS FOR­UM PAPER 3

Case­work Totals by Year/​Category

	2019	2020	2021
Grand Total for Year	192	215	135
Plan­ning Consultns	45	37	21
Forestry Con­sultns	22	32	18
Access Rights	25	40	23
Fund­ing	1	1	10
Land Own­er­ship	1	0	0
Obstruc­tion	23	19	10
Oth­er	38	40	28
Path Main­ten­ance	11	15	12
Sig­nage	13	14	6
Tour­ism	13	17	7

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