Paper 2 Reviewing and refreshing the Cairngorms Local Outdoor Access Forum

Review­ing and refresh­ing the Cairngorms Loc­al Out­door Access Forum

Adam Streeter-Smith Recre­ation and Access Man­ager 21 Feb­ru­ary 2024

Pur­pose To review and refresh the role of the Cairngorms Loc­al Out­door Access For­um if neces­sary and put plans in place to recruit new members.

Recom­mend­a­tions a) The For­um is invited to dis­cuss and advise on a refresh of the Forum.

b) Mem­bers of the For­um are invited to con­sider their own term of mem­ber­ship and noti­fy the Sec­ret­ari­at of their desired future length of term no later than 31^st of March.

Back­ground

1. The Cairngorms Loc­al Out­door Access For­um (LOAF) will have been oper­a­tion­al for 19 years on the 31^st of March 2024. For 19 years the LOAF has played a cru­cial role in help­ing the Park Author­ity shape and devel­op policies and plans, address access issues and advise on the sus­tain­able man­age­ment of out­door access. Mem­bers time and ded­ic­a­tion is highly val­ued by the Park Author­ity and by the Park Author­ity Board.

2. This paper con­siders the future role of the For­um with the aim of: a) Ensur­ing the focus of the LOAF is on mat­ters most rel­ev­ant to long term sus­tain­able man­age­ment of recre­ation and out­door access: b) Provid­ing interest and oppor­tun­ity for new mem­bers: c) Ensur­ing mem­bers can con­trib­ute to dis­cus­sions on out­door access:

The Oper­at­ing Procedures

1. The Oper­at­ing Pro­ced­ures (see annex 1) set out the object­ives and func­tion of the LOAF. It is sug­ges­ted that these object­ives and func­tion are still rel­ev­ant and that there is no need to change these.

2. How­ever, it is recog­nised that in the last few years it has been chal­len­ging to recruit new mem­bers and that attend­ance at meet­ings has been low. This is not a unique

prob­lem for the LOAF and reflects sim­il­ar chal­lenges in oth­er Access Author­ity areas. It should also be recog­nised that the pan­dem­ic has played a role in this.

1. In 2024 the Park Author­ity and the cur­rent Con­vener would like to take steps to refresh and rein­vig­or­ate the LOAF to provide inform­al but informed views on things like pro­gress with Act­ive Cairngorms as well as form­al advice on mat­ters relat­ing to out­door access. These could include: a) Meet­ing format includ­ing loc­a­tions, tim­ing and papers: b) Meet­ing top­ics- bal­ance between stat­utory duties and wider out­door access / recre­ation mat­ters c) Com­mu­nic­a­tions- oppor­tun­ity to raise the pro­file of the LOAF bey­ond the stat­utory func­tion: d) Engage­ment with mem­bers out­side of meet­ings – use of sub­groups and or tech­no­logy for top­ics e) Recruit­ment. f) Terms of ref­er­ence for members

The For­um are invited to dis­cuss and advise on a refresh of the Forum.

Recruit­ment

1. The Oper­at­ing Pro­ced­ures state there will be a max­im­um of 15 mem­bers includ­ing one CNPA Board mem­ber. Cur­rently there are 11 mem­bers, and it is pro­posed that the Park Author­ity seeks to recruit new mem­bers over the spring of 2024.

Mem­bers of the For­um are invited to con­sider their own term of mem­ber­ship and noti­fy the Sec­ret­ari­at of their desired future length of term no later than 31^st of March 2024.

Annex 1

OPER­AT­ING PROCEDURES

The Cairngorms Loc­al Access For­um is estab­lished under Sec­tion 25 of the Land Reform (Scot­land) Act 2003. It will have a max­im­um of 15 mem­bers and include one CNPA Board Mem­ber. The For­um will com­prise mem­bers appoin­ted to it by the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity. The CNPA and the For­um itself will keep mem­ber­ship of the For­um under review, includ­ing a review of pub­lic agency involvement.

Name and area of operation

1. a. The group will be called the CAIRNGORMS LOC­AL OUT­DOOR ACCESS FOR­UM (referred to below as the Forum);

   b. The Forum’s area of oper­a­tion will include all land and water with­in and includ­ing the bound­ary of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park

Object­ives and Functions

1. The object­ives and func­tions of the For­um shall be: a. To act as the loc­al access for­um for Cairngorms Nation­al Park and to under­take the func­tions of that body under the terms of Sec­tion 25 of the Land Reform (Scot­land) Act 2003; b. To advise the Author­ity in the review of the Core Paths Plan; c. To advise the Author­ity in the review of its Out­door Access Strategy; d. To advise the Author­ity and any oth­er per­son or body con­sult­ing it, on the exist­ence and delin­eation of rights of way and the exer­cise of access rights; e. To pro­mote respons­ible access and land man­age­ment through assist­ing the Author­ity in pub­li­cising the Scot­tish Out­door Access Code; f. To pro­mote dis­cus­sion and the shar­ing of know­ledge, aware­ness and good prac­tice in out­door access mat­ters; g. To sup­port the pro­vi­sion of appro­pri­ate infra­struc­ture that improves respons­ible access to the coun­tryside for all; and h. To offer advice that will assist in the res­ol­u­tion of out­door access disputes.

Struc­ture and Membership

1. a. The For­um con­sists of such per­sons as are appoin­ted to it by the Park Author­ity and in line with good prac­tice shall include rep­res­ent­a­tion from the fol­low­ing key sec­tors: Land Man­agers; Com­munity Interests; Recre­ation­al Users; and Pub­lic Agencies;

   b. The For­um shall elect a Con­ven­or and Vice Con­ven­or to serve a term of three years. Mem­bers can stand as Con­vener and Vice Con­vener for up to, but not exceed­ing six years; c. For­um mem­bers are appoin­ted for a three-year peri­od. After this dur­a­tion, For­um mem­bers will be invited to extend their mem­ber­ship for one to three years, by self-selec­tion ini­tially, but organ­ised so as to achieve a bal­ance of three-year mem­ber­ships to six-year mem­ber­ships; d. No mem­ber shall serve more than six con­tinu­ous years on the For­um but may re- apply after stand­ing down for a min­im­um peri­od of one year; e. If a rep­res­ent­at­ive fails to attend three con­sec­ut­ive meet­ings their mem­ber­ship may be res­cin­ded and the CNPA asked to instig­ate selec­tion of a replace­ment; f. Dur­ing the course of a For­um meet­ing mem­bers are required to declare an interest in an item at the point at which the item is raised. This may not exclude them from the dis­cus­sion; g. The pub­lic agen­cies are charged with the respons­ib­il­ity for nom­in­at­ing a suit­able officer to attend meet­ings, or del­eg­ate a sub­sti­tute if the main mem­ber is unable to attend. h. Set­ting up work­ing groups to address spe­cif­ic top­ic or area based access issues where appro­pri­ate. The sub­groups may con­sist of For­um mem­bers, extern­al inter­ested parties, spe­cial­ist advisers and oth­ers as agreed by the Forum.

Pro­ceed­ings of meetings

1. a. The For­um will hold no few­er than two meet­ings per cal­en­dar year. Meet­ings may be res­ched­uled but not can­celled; b. For­um meet­ings will be held online or at a range of suit­able ven­ues across the Nation­al Park (account­ing for travel and access­ib­il­ity) with at least one meet­ing held at CNPA HQ, Grant­own on Spey; c. A review of the oper­a­tion of the For­um will take place every three years. The review will take the form of an agenda item and discussion.

Admin­is­tra­tion of meetings

1. a. CNPA staff will be respons­ible for the admin­is­trat­ive sup­port, accom­mod­a­tion and facil­it­ies for meet­ings of the Forum;

   b. The CNPA may provide sec­ret­ari­at for For­um sub-groups at its own discretion.

c. Meet­ing agen­das shall be reviewed and agreed between the Con­ven­or and Vice Con­vener and the CNPA staff as sec­ret­ari­at. Any mem­ber may have an input to the agenda through the Con­ven­or. A short brief­ing paper shall also be sup­plied to the Con­vener and Vice Con­vener on all papers sub­mit­ted in advance of the meet­ing; d. All For­um mem­bers shall receive busi­ness papers by email to be cir­cu­lated no less than 5 work­ing days before the next meet­ing; e. Com­ments on papers received pri­or to the meet­ing from mem­bers who are unable to attend, will be cir­cu­lated to the whole For­um; f. Minutes shall be kept of all For­um meet­ings; g. Parties with dir­ect involve­ment in cases being dis­cussed by the For­um will have the right to make short writ­ten sub­mis­sions or short (5 minute) present­a­tion at the dis­cre­tion of the Con­ven­or. Writ­ten sub­mis­sions will have to be sub­mit­ted to the Sec­ret­ari­at for cir­cu­la­tion sev­en work­ing days in advance of the For­um meeting.

Com­mu­nic­a­tion issues

1. The For­um will endeav­our to com­mu­nic­ate with organ­isa­tions and indi­vidu­als that have an interest in out­door access by:

   a. Mak­ing minutes and agen­das of meet­ings widely avail­able to the pub­lic through

   the CNPA website. Papers will also be circulated to CNPA Board members and
   neighbouring Local Outdoor Access Forums.
   

   b. Com­mu­nic­at­ing via the Press using such as post-meet­ing press releases when

   appropriate issues arise. The Forum will target the main local papers the
   Strathspey Herald; the Deeside and Donside Pipers; the Northern Scot; the Forfar
   Dispatch Group; the Dundee Courier; Parklife and the Press and Journal. The
   Forum will also consider communicating where appropriate with more specialist
   press such as community, land management and recreational user media within
   the Park boundary. All press communication will be approved by the Convener.
   

   c. Con­ven­ing or jointly host­ing a pub­lic event or meet­ing every two years on a key

   theme of outdoor access aimed to involve the wider population of outdoor access
   interests.