Paper Four - Update Paper

CAIRNGORMS LOC­AL OUT­DOOR ACCESS FOR­UM Paper 4

CAIRNGORMS LOC­AL OUT­DOOR ACCESS FORUM

Title: UPDATE AND FOR­WARD LOOK

Pre­pared by: Adam Streeter-Smith, Recre­ation and Access Manager

Pur­pose: This paper provides an update on the main areas of work both under­taken and planned.

1. Man­age­ment of core paths and out­door access duties:

a) Spey­side Way – Tender for works in Anagach Woods upgrade are cur­rently on Pub­lic Con­tracts Scot­land web­site, with a num­ber of con­tract­ors now inter­ested. Sub­ject to suc­cess­ful appoint­ment works will com­mence at the begin­ning of Octo­ber with com­ple­tion by the end of December.

b) Oth­er Path Projects-

• Brae­mar to Kei­loch Path- OATS have appoin­ted a con­tract­or to deliv­er this new path link provid­ing a link from the Lions’s Face Path to the Old Bridge of Dee and the Kei­loch. There are tech­nic­al chal­lenges on this route relat­ing to the steep­ness of the slopes and the under­ly­ing ground con­di­tions. This means the spe­cific­a­tion has had to be revised. The CNPA and OATS are work­ing to update key stake­hold­ers and ensure all plan­ning con­di­tions are met.

c) SOAC aware­ness raising

• Posters/​signs – new signs pro­duced for Dogs and Wild­life, Dogs and Live­stock, Camper­van facil­it­ies map and Fire poster updated.
• Social media cam­paign – new social media cam­paign around Man­aging for Vis­it­ors / Respons­ible Access pro­duced by agency Leith, run­ning between July and Sept, around theme of #ItsAWalk­In­TheP­ark.
• Ranger events – num­ber of pop-up events organ­ised around the Park top­ics include respons­ible dog walking.
• Adverts – two full page adverts in July/​Aug ​“What’s On” guide. (Full sum­mary of activ­ity at next meeting)

d) Com­munity Path Leaflets

• New leaf­let pro­duced for Kincraig.
• Grant­own on Spey, Aviemore, Kin­gussie and Brae­mar leaf­lets updated and re-printed.
• Updat­ing in pro­gress for Bal­later and Newtonmore.
• Planned updates for Car­rbridge, Lag­gan and Strathdon.

CAIRNGORMS LOC­AL OUT­DOOR ACCESS FOR­UM Paper 4

Oth­er Park Initiatives

1. Man­aging for Vis­it­ors – The CNPA has con­vened a meet­ing every two weeks since the begin­ning of April to coordin­ate across key hot­spots the work of rangers and land man­agers in response to vis­it­or man­age­ment pres­sures. While the ​“sea­son” hasn’t presen­ted the same level of chal­lenges as the lock­down years there have been sig­ni­fic­ant pres­sures at key hot­spots. Issues such as park­ing, camp­fires and large groups of tents are per­sist­ent issues. An end of sea­son report will be com­plied and shared with the LOAF.

Adam Streeter-Smith Adamstreetersmith@​cairngorms.​co.​uk