CAIRNGORMS LOC­AL OUT­DOOR ACCESS FORUM

PAPER

CAIRNGORMS LOC­AL OUT­DOOR ACCESS FORUM

Title: Update on case­work volumes and types over 2019 – 2021 cal­en­dar years.

Pre­pared by: Douglas Stew­art, Out­door Access Officer.

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

1. 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 cas­work 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 fur­ther rel­at­ive increase in case­work for the 12 month review peri­od (full cal­en­dar year) over 2020 fig­ures which cor­rel­ates with a gradu­al upward trend over the same peri­od since 2019. The increase since 2019 amounts to 35%.

2. Records for the 12 month review peri­od com­pare as follows:

   • 2021 — 259 cases = 35% over baseline
   • 2020 — 215 cases = 12% over baseline
   • 2019 — 192 cases = baseline

3. It is prob­able that 2021 saw a con­tin­ued high­er than nor­mal num­ber of UK res­id­ents hol­i­day­ing at home (i.e. with­in the UK) due to Cov­id related travel restric­tions and these high­er num­bers are seen feed­ing into in the levels of extern­al case­work exper­i­enced. It is yet to be seen if this trend becomes established.

4. Both Plan­ning and Forestry con­sulta­tions are show­ing a gradu­al uptick in num­bers with a dis­tinct spike in Plan­ning case­work evid­ent dur­ing March.

5. Case­work hand­ling capa­city and pro­ced­ures have proven resi­li­ent to fluc­tu­ations in num­bers and types of issues over­all although the sus­tained upward trend requires mon­it­or­ing in respect of staff capa­city. Case­work is react­ive and tends to lim­it capa­city ele­where when an increase in case­load is evident.

6. Not­able cases over the peri­od are as follows:

   • Case 660 Core Path clos­ures Pan­nanich Wood, nr Ballater
   • Case 732 Cattle block­ing pub­lic road, Glen Banchor

D. Stew­art 22/02/22

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	23
Aug	20	16	17
Sep	10	26	19
Oct	15	27	14
Nov	10	14	29
Dec	9	22	19

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	19
Aug	14	13	7
Sep	7	18	18
Oct	8	19	11
Nov	7	10	29
Dec	4	13	18

Case­work Totals by Year/​Category

	2019	2020	2021
Grand Total for Year	192	215	259
Plan­ning Consultns	45	37	49
Forestry Con­sultns	22	32	36
Access Rights	25	40	40
Fund­ing	1	1	14
Land Own­er­ship	1	0	0
Obstruc­tion	23	19	19
Oth­er	38	40	55
Path Main­ten­ance	11	15	20
Sig­nage	13	14	11
Tour­ism	13	17	15