Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee 12 Decem­ber 2025 Page 1 of 5

Draft minutes of the Performance

Com­mit­tee meeting

Held at Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity office, Grant­own-on-Spey Online 12 Septem­ber 2025 at 09.00am

Present online Kenny Deans (Chair) Steve Mickle­wright (Deputy Chair) Jack­ie Brier­ton (sub­sti­tute for Ann Ross) Elean­or Mackintosh

Sandy Brem­ner John Kirk

In attend­ance Grant Moir, Chief Exec­ut­ive Officer Andy Ford, Dir­ect­or of Nature and Cli­mate Change Colin McCle­an Head of Land Man­age­ment Dav­id Clyne, Head of Cairngorms 2030 Mari­aan Pita, Exec­ut­ive Sup­port Man­ager Elean­or Mac­Don­ald, Sus­tain­able Trans­port Man­ager Kar­en John­stone, Clerk to the Board

Apo­lo­gies Ann Ross

Wel­come and introduction

1. The Chair wel­comed every­one to the meet­ing of the Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee. Apo­lo­gies were noted.

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Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee 12 Decem­ber 2025 Page 2 of 5

Approv­al of minutes of pre­vi­ous meetings

1. The draft minutes of the pre­vi­ous meet­ing held on 13 June 2025 were approved with no amendments.

Mat­ters arising not covered elsewhere

1. The Chair of the Plan­ning Com­mit­tee ques­tioned when they will con­sider the fig­ures and fund­ing of the cli­mate adapt­a­tion fund. CEO explained that they will share who funds were alloc­ated to and can have a fur­ther look into fund­ing alloc­a­tions and pro­ject types once all fund­ing is in place.
2. Para­graph 18b, Loc­al Access For­um, Board Con­vener noted there was a suc­cess­ful dis­cus­sion with Chairs and Staff and will report back on any issues.

ACTION	Status
Action points arising from pre­vi­ous meetings
13 Decem­ber 2024
AOCB
At para 26
i. Ranger ser­vice update to be incor­por­ated into the Act­ive Cairngorms action plan paper.	Closed

Update: Annu­al update paper will be taken to Form­al Full Board in Novem­ber 2025.

Declar­a­tions of interest

1. There were no declar­a­tions of interest.

Cairngorms Peat­land ACTION Pro­gramme (Paper 1)

1. Colin McCle­an, Head of Land Man­age­ment intro­duced the paper which presents an update on the deliv­ery of the Park Authority’s Peat­land ACTION pro­gramme in ²⁰²⁵⁄₂₆ and describes the early-stage devel­op­ment of pipeline for ²⁰²⁶⁄₂₇.

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Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee 12 Decem­ber 2025 Page 3 of 5

1. The Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee dis­cussed the paper and made the fol­low­ing com­ments and obser­va­tions: a) A Board Mem­ber quer­ied the red item on the risk pro­file, ques­tion­ing if this is a one off or if this will affect oth­er pro­jects. Head of Land Man­age­ment explained this was a one off and has now been dealt with, which is com­mon prac­tise and not a stra­tegic con­cern. b) A Board Mem­ber ques­tioned how much money was being put into this pro­ject to which Head of Land Man­age­ment explained Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment (SG) had a set of tar­gets for peat­land res­tor­a­tion over a 10-year peri­od and we are cur­rently on year five. c) Dis­cus­sions were had around how the return to soci­ety is eval­u­ated. Head of Land Man­age­ment noted that past pro­jects are examined for their suc­cess to a range of factors and what les­sons have been learned to help improve the stand­ard of work. It was explained that emis­sion sav­ings on peat­land pro­jects over­all is being eval­u­ated by NatureScot. CEO explained that the Park Authority’s policy pos­i­tion was to restore 38,000 hec­tares (ha) by 2045 which was agreed and approved as part of the last Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan NPPP. d) A Board Mem­ber ques­tioned that few­er con­tract­ors tendered, query­ing if this has a long-term capa­city in the sec­tor and if this was a con­cern. Head of Land Man­age­ment explained that NatureScot are bring­ing for­ward more con­tracts / pro­jects there­fore there is more com­pet­i­tion across Scot­land. How­ever, the num­ber of pro­jects is attract­ing more con­tract­ors into the mar­ket and so at present there is no sig­ni­fic­ant issue with capa­city. e) Dis­cus­sions were had around cap­tur­ing the impact of the Peat­land work and return for invest­ments. Head of Land Man­age­ment explained that the Park Author­ity has con­cen­trated their resources and focus on deliv­ery to date, how­ever they will col­lect and devel­op data through the Sci­ent­ist and Mon­it­or­ing Officer and work along­side NatureScot to devel­op this. Dir­ect­or of Nature and Cli­mate Change explained SG want to con­vert ha to green­house gas emis­sions which is prov­ing chal­len­ging due to dif­fer­ing pro­jects. It was noted that there is a fig­ure in the NPPP that erod­ing peat save 19 tonnes of CO2. Cairngorms index will show baselines and changes; how­ever it was high­lighted this would be work­ing at land­scape scales as changes in single sites are unlikely. Board Mem­bers were keen to see the data and evidence

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Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee 12 Decem­ber 2025 Page 4 of 5

reports on this for a fuller under­stand­ing of biod­iversity impacts from peat­land restoration.

1. The Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee noted the paper and agreed to the recom­mend­a­tions: a) Note the pro­gress against pro­gramme tar­gets for ²⁰²⁵⁄₂₆. b) Note the plans for ²⁰²⁶⁄₂₇.
2. Action Points Arising: None.

Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee Annu­al Report (Paper 2)

1. Mari­aan Pita, Exec­ut­ive Sup­port Man­ager intro­duced the paper which presents the draft Annu­al Report of the Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee to mem­bers for com­ment pri­or to cir­cu­la­tion to the full board.
2. The Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee dis­cussed the paper and made the fol­low­ing com­ments and obser­va­tions: a) There were no ques­tions, all Board Mem­bers were con­tent with the inform­a­tion in the report.
3. The Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee noted the paper and agreed to the recom­mend­a­tions: a) Con­sider the draft annu­al report of the Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee. b) Agree any amend­ments to the draft pri­or to cir­cu­la­tion to the full board
4. Action Points Arising: None.

AOCB

1. None

Date of Next Meeting

1. The date of the next meet­ing is 12 Decem­ber 2025 in person.
2. The meet­ing con­cluded at 9.49am

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Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee 12 Decem­ber 2025 Page 5 of 5

Motion to move to a con­fid­en­tial sea­son for reas­ons of com­mer­cial con­fid­en­ti­al­ity (regard­ing tender prices and financing).

ACTION	Status
Action points arising from pre­vi­ous meetings
13 Decem­ber 2024
AOCB
At para 26
i. Ranger ser­vice update to be incor­por­ated into the Act­ive Cairngorms action plan paper.	Closed

Update: Annu­al update paper will be taken to Form­al Full Board in Novem­ber 2025.