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Performance Paper 2 - Peatland ACTION Programme

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee Paper 2 11 Septem­ber 2026 Page 1 of 4

For dis­cus­sion

Title: Cairngorms Peat­land ACTION Pro­gramme Pre­pared by: Colin McCle­an, Head of Land Management

Pur­pose

This paper presents an update on the devel­op­ing pro­gramme for 2026⁄27.

Recom­mend­a­tions

The Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee is asked to: α) Note pro­gramme tar­gets and plans for 2026⁄27.

Stra­tegic policy consideration

  1. The Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan (NPPP) action is to restore a min­im­um of 6,500 hec­tares (ha) of peat­land by 2027, as a con­tri­bu­tion towards the tar­get of a min­im­um of 38,000ha of peat­land under res­tor­a­tion by 2045, 80% of all drains restored by 2035, and all erosion fea­tures restored by 2050.
  2. Peat­land Action fund­ing is a sig­ni­fic­ant com­pon­ent of the match fund­ing for the Cairngorms 2030 (C2030) Pro­gramme. As one of the five Peat­land ACTION deliv­ery part­ners, the res­tor­a­tion work delivered by the Park Author­ity plays an import­ant part in reach­ing the Scot­tish Government’s (SG) tar­get of 250,000ha of peat­land being restored by 2030.

Per­form­ance dashboard

Per­form­ance Meas­ure for 2025⁄26Rat­ingCom­ment­ary
Fin­ance: Max­im­ise use of £3.5 mil­lion cap­it­al fin­ance and £705,000 resource fin­ance avail­able in 2026⁄27 for peat­land restoration.GreenThere are cur­rently 11 pro­jects in the pro­gramme with an addi­tion­al two held in reserve. Resource fund­ing is fully alloc­ated. The estim­ated over­all grant require­ment is £3.25 mil­lion. The remain­ing £250,000 is alloc­ated to a spe­cif­ic tri­al to restore bare peat.
Fin­ance: Impact on the Park Authority’s budget management.GreenNo wider unplanned demands cur­rently made by pro­gramme on fin­an­cial resources.
Res­tor­a­tion tar­get 2026⁄27: 1,300ha Res­tor­a­tion AreaGreenThere are suf­fi­cient hec­tares in the pro­gramme to meet this target.
Pipeline for 2027⁄28GreenOne pro­ject is secured, being year two of a multi-year pro­ject start­ing in 26⁄27, and plans are in devel­op­ment for a fur­ther 10 projects.
Pro­gramme risk profileAmberAt this stage in the pro­gramme cycle, changes in the pro­gramme are to be expec­ted and reserve pro­jects are in place. There are uncer­tain­ties around the poten­tial impacts of wild­fire on resources.
Future fund­ing profileGreenThe Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment four-year spend­ing review indic­ates an increase in the over­all Peat­land ACTION pro­gramme from £28 mil­lion in 2026⁄27 to £30.6 mil­lion in 2027⁄28.
Future deliv­ery profileGreenLandown­ers remain engaged with Peat­land ACTION with demand now roughly in line with budget.

Deliv­ery against stra­tegic outcomes

  1. At this early stage in the peat­land year, the pro­gramme for 2027⁄28 is devel­op­ing well and is broadly on track to achieve the agreed tar­get of 1300ha for 2026⁄27. This year’s tar­get is a reduc­tion in the hec­tares achieved recently where, over the last two years, we have achieved at least 1800ha under res­tor­a­tion annu­ally. This reduc­tion is due to hav­ing few­er drain block­ing pro­jects which restore rel­at­ively large areas at rel­at­ively low cost per hec­tare. Many of the most access­ible drain block­ing pro­jects in the Cairngorms have already been treated. We are now pre­dom­in­antly restor­ing eroded sites, treat­ing smal­ler areas at high­er cost.
  2. Since 2022, approx­im­ately 9,400ha of peat­land has been brought under res­tor­a­tion. The NPPP action to bring 6,500ha under res­tor­a­tion by 2027 has been achieved and we remain on track to bring a min­im­um of 38,000 ha of peat­land under res­tor­a­tion man­age­ment by 2045.
  3. Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment has main­tained the peat­land res­tor­a­tion com­mit­ment to restore 250,000ha of degraded peat­land by 2030, backed by a £250 mil­lion invest­ment. Com­mit­ments in the four-year spend­ing pro­file reflect this status and offer a high degree of con­fid­ence that Peat­land ACTION funds con­tin­ue to be made avail­able to the Park Author­ity dur­ing this peri­od. This presents a low-risk envir­on­ment in which the Park Author­ity can for­ward com­mit fund­ing and enter into multi-year grant offers, provid­ing increased secur­ity for both land man­agers and contractors.
  4. Levels of for­ward com­mit­ment have been agreed to a max­im­um of £1.5 mil­lion in year two and £1 mil­lion in year three, rep­res­ent­ing approx­im­ately 43% and 28% of pre­dicted grant respect­ively. All for­ward com­mit­ments will be agreed by Exec­ut­ive Team. There is one for­ward com­mit­ment of £254,972 planned for expendit­ure in 2027⁄28, relat­ing to stage two of a pro­ject ini­ti­ated in the 2026⁄27 pro­gramme. Although, the work may be delayed by a year as the site is with­in an area affected by wildfire.
  5. Staff­ing in the Peat­land Team has remained stable at nine mem­bers since the last report to the Per­form­ance Committee.
  6. At this point in time not all pro­jects have been tendered so it is unclear if con­tract­or capa­city remains suf­fi­cient to tackle the planned pro­gramme. How­ever, attend­ance at early ​“bidder’s days” demon­strates con­tin­ued con­tract­or interest.
  7. One peat­land res­tor­a­tion site is with­in the area impacted by the wild­fire in Glen­more and Aber­nethy. Pre­vi­ous, com­pleted res­tor­a­tion does not seem to be affected, indic­a­tions are the wild­fire may have been arres­ted and / or moved around the site, the next stage was planned to have been in this year’s pro­gramme with a for­ward com­mit­ment to next fin­an­cial year. Should this work be delayed, the impact on the 2026⁄27 will be small and reserve pro­jects are avail­able to ensure max­im­um spend.
  8. Dur­ing the emer­gency, Park Author­ity staff, vehicles and equip­ment were assigned to duties sup­port­ing fire­fight­ing efforts. The impacts on the peat­land team were mainly in provid­ing qual­i­fied drone pilots and real­loc­a­tion of Park Author­ity 4×4 fleet vehicles. The con­sequence of these re-alloc­a­tions of resource are not con­sidered to be sig­ni­fic­ant on deliv­ery of the pro­gramme, how­ever the wider effect on heli­copter ser­vice pro­viders and con­tract­ors are not yet understood.
  9. After five years of pion­eer­ing land­scape-scale nature fin­ance pro­jects across the UK’s Nation­al Parks, the Revere col­lab­or­a­tion has now con­cluded. Pal­la­di­um will exit the peat­land res­tor­a­tion part­ner­ship on Del­nadamph in July 2028. Palladium’s with­draw­al will cause min­im­um dis­rup­tion to the oper­a­tion­al pro­gramme and peat­land res­tor­a­tion on Del­nadamph will con­tin­ue. Agree­ments have been reached between Canup Ltd and Pal­la­di­um for main­ten­ance of the site, man­aging peat­land code require­ments, ensur­ing PIUs are con­ver­ted to PCUs and for man­age­ment the pro­ject budget and profit alloc­a­tion. There is no addi­tion­al require­ment on the Park Author­ity as a res­ult of Palladium’s exit.

Colin McCle­an 23 July 2026 colinmcclean@​cairngorms.​co.​uk