Paper 5 Review of LOAF Membership

CAIRNGORMS LOC­AL OUT­DOOR ACCESS FORUM

Title: Review of For­um mem­ber­ship and Stand­ing Orders Pre­pared by: Adam Streeter-Smith, Recre­ation and Access Man­ager Pur­pose: To review the mem­ber­ship of the Cairngorms Loc­al Out­door Access For­um and Stand­ing Orders Advice Sought The For­um is invited to give its advice on the fol­low­ing points which sum­mar­ise how we intend to proceed:

a) There is a need for new mem­bers this year.

b) Mem­bers will be invited to remain on the For­um until after the 2023 February/​March meet­ing, in order to ensure con­tinu­ity of advice on the review of Act­ive Cairngorms and its plan­ning process:

c) New mem­bers will be recruited and eli­gible to attend their first meet­ing in May 2022.

d) John Gri­er­son should remain as Con­ven­or until the February/​March 2023 meet­ing and that the elec­tions for Con­ven­or are held then:

e) There will be three meet­ings a year two held vir­tu­ally and one face to face:

f) Minor changes to the oper­at­ing pro­ced­ures are made.

Back­ground

1. The Cairngorms Loc­al Out­door Access For­um has been oper­a­tion­al for over 17 years and most recently oper­at­ing in excep­tion­al cir­cum­stances due to Cov­id restric­tions. This paper con­siders the future mem­ber­ship of the For­um and the format of meet­ings going forward.

The Object­ive of review­ing membership

1. The Park Author­ity wants to ensure that the For­um con­tin­ues to be fully func­tion­ing and effect­ive, a For­um which is dynam­ic, respons­ive to change and, on a con­tinu­al basis, seeks to bring in fresh skills and exper­i­ence from new mem­bers whilst retain­ing and valu­ing the exist­ing mem­ber resource. It also ensures the reten­tion of the bal­ance of interests – com­munity, land man­age­ment and recre­ation — and an equit­able split between the three.

2. Para­graph 3 of the Oper­at­ing Pro­ced­ures – writ­ten in 2005 – addresses the length of term for For­um mem­bers as follows:

• The For­um con­sists of such per­sons as are appoin­ted to it by the Park Author­ity but in line with good prac­tice shall include rep­res­ent­a­tion from the fol­low­ing key sec­tors: Land Man­agers; Com­munity Interests; Recre­ation­al Users; and Pub­lic Agen­cies. • The For­um shall select a Con­ven­or and Vice Con­ven­or to serve a term of three years. • For­um mem­bers are appoin­ted for a two-year peri­od. After this dur­a­tion, For­um mem­bers will be invited to extend their mem­ber­ship for either one or two years, by self-selec­tion ini­tially, but organ­ised so as to achieve a bal­ance of three-year mem­ber­ships and four-year mem­ber­ships, while main­tain­ing a bal­ance across the four sec­tors. • Future appoint­ments will be made for a term of three years. No mem­ber shall serve more than six con­tinu­ous years on the Forum.

Cur­rent For­um mem­bers’ length of term

1. Cur­rent For­um mem­bers were giv­en terms of mem­ber­ship for three years ori­gin­ally. How­ever, the recent hiatus caused by the pan­dem­ic has meant that mem­ber­ship peri­ods have lapsed or been exten­ded. To ensure con­tinu­ity going for­ward the Park Author­ity would like to see exist­ing mem­bers stay on for at least anoth­er year if their mem­ber­ship peri­od has exceed six years.

2. Last year, one mem­ber stood down hence we are look­ing at recruit­ing at least one new mem­ber. Cur­rently mem­ber­ship stands at 10 mem­bers. Nom­in­ally rep­res­ent­a­tion should be split equally between mem­bers who bring exper­i­ence and con­nec­tion with land man­agers; com­munity interests; recre­ation­al users; and pub­lic agen­cies. As the min­im­um num­ber of mem­bers of the For­um should be 12.

Pro­ceed­ings of meetings

1. The last two years of the pan­dem­ic has demon­strated that For­um busi­ness can be effect­ively delivered via ​“vir­tu­al” meet­ings. These meet­ings offer sig­ni­fic­ant advant­ages to mem­bers in rela­tion to time com­mit­ments and travel expenses. How­ever it is also recog­nised that face to face meet­ings and the chance to explore top­ics more fully, espe­cially out­side, are import­ant for mem­ber­ship mor­al and motiv­a­tion. It is pro­posed that the spring and autumn meet­ings are held ​“vir­tu­ally” and that a sum­mer face to face meet­ing is programmed.

The Oper­at­ing procedures

1. Pro­posed changes in the num­ber and type of meet­ings as well as the accep­ted pos­i­tion that the For­um does not require a Vice Con­ven­or means that minor modi­fic­a­tion to the oper­at­ing pro­ced­ures are required. Annex I sets out the revised changes.

Annex I CAIRNGORMS LOC­AL OUT­DOOR ACCESS FOR­UM 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 21 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 the pub­lic agency involvement.

Name and area of operation

1. The group will be called the CAIRNGORMS LOC­AL OUT­DOOR ACCESS FOR­UM (referred to below as the Forum);
2. 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 The object­ives and func­tions of the For­um shall be:

1. To act as the loc­al access for­um for Cairngorms Nation­al Park and to under­take the func­tions of that body in terms of Sec­tion 25 of the Land Reform (Scot­land) Act 2003;
2. To advise the Author­ity in the review of the Core Paths Plan;
3. To advise the Author­ity in the review of its Out­door Access Strategy;
4. 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;
5. Το pro­mote respons­ible access and land man­age­ment through assist­ing the Author­ity in pub­li­cising the Scot­tish Out­door Access Code;
6. To pro­mote dis­cus­sion and the shar­ing of know­ledge, aware­ness and good prac­tice in out­door access matters;
7. To sup­port the pro­vi­sion of appro­pri­ate infra­struc­ture that improves respons­ible access to the coun­tryside for all; and
8. To offer advice that will assist in the res­ol­u­tion of out­door access disputes.

Struc­ture and Membership

1. 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;

1. The For­um shall elect a Con­ven­or to serve a term of three years. Mem­bers can stand as Con­vener for up to, but not exceed­ing six years;
2. 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;
3. No mem­ber shall serve more than six con­tinu­ous years on the For­um but may reapply after stand­ing down for a min­im­um peri­od of one year;
4. If a rep­res­ent­at­ive fails to attend three con­sec­ut­ive meet­ings their mem­ber­ship may be res­cin­ded and the CNPA asked to instig­ate selec­tion of a replacement;
5. 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;
6. 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.

Pro­ceed­ings of meetings

1. The For­um will hold meet­ings no few­er than three times year- two vir­tu­al and one face to face. Meet­ings may be res­ched­uled but not cancelled;
2. The loc­a­tion of For­um meet­ings will cir­cu­late around the Cairngorms Nation­al Park;
3. A review of the oper­a­tion of the For­um will take place every five years. The review will take the form of an agenda item and discussion.

Admin­is­tra­tion of meetings

1. CNPA staff will be respons­ible for the admin­is­trat­ive sup­port, accom­mod­a­tion and facil­it­ies for meet­ings of the Forum;
2. The CNPA may provide sec­ret­ari­at for For­um sub-groups at its own discretion.
3. Meet­ing agen­das shall be reviewed and agreed between the Con­ven­or 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 on all papers sub­mit­ted in advance of the meeting;
4. All For­um mem­bers shall receive busi­ness papers by both email and by post to be cir­cu­lated no less than 5 work­ing days before the next meeting;
5. Com­ments on papers received pri­or to the meet­ing from mem­bers who are unable to attend, will be cir­cu­lated to the whole Forum;
6. Minutes shall be kept of all For­um meetings;
7. Parties with dir­ect involve­ment in cases being dis­cussed by the For­um will have the right to make short writ­ten sub­mis­sions at the dis­cre­tion of the Con­ven­or. 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:
2. 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;
3. Com­mu­nic­at­ing via the Press using reg­u­lar post-meet­ing press releases when appro­pri­ate issues arise. The For­um will tar­get the main loc­al papers, 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;
4. 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.

CNPA (date)