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Play Recreation and Sport Topic Paper - Engagement version

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ùgh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

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Top­ic: Play, recre­ation and sport Engage­ment ver­sion – Septem­ber 2025 Require­ments addressed in this section

Table 1 Inform­a­tion required by the Town and Coun­try Plan­ning (Scot­land) Act 1997, as amended, regard­ing the issue addressed in this section.

Sec­tionRequire­ment
Sec­tion 3GA plan­ning author­ity is to pre­pare and pub­lish an open space strategy. How­ever, Sec­tion 3G(6) states that a nation­al park author­ity is not a plan­ning author­ity for the pur­poses of this section.
Sec­tion 15(5) ©the size, com­pos­i­tion, health and dis­tri­bu­tion of the pop­u­la­tion of the district.
Sec­tion 15(5)(a)the prin­cip­al phys­ic­al, cul­tur­al, eco­nom­ic, social, built her­it­age and envir­on­ment­al char­ac­ter­ist­ics of the district.
Sec­tion 16(2)(b)Have regard to in pre­par­ing a loc­al devel­op­ment plan any open space strategy pub­lished under sec­tion 3G of the Act.1
Sec­tion 16D(1)A plan­ning author­ity must assess the suf­fi­ciency of play oppor­tun­it­ies in its area for chil­dren in pre­par­ing an evid­ence report.
Sec­tion 264AIn the exer­cise, with respect to any land in a Nation­al Park, of any power under the plan­ning Acts, spe­cial atten­tion shall be paid to the desirab­il­ity of exer­cising the power con­sist­ently with the adop­ted Nation­al Park Plan.

Links to evidence

1 As spe­cified by para­graph (2)(e)(x) of Reg­u­la­tion 9 of The Town and Coun­try Plan­ning (Devel­op­ment Plan­ning) (Scot­land) Reg­u­la­tions 2023.

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Region­al assess­ments, strategies and plans

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Sum­mary of Evid­ence Policy Con­text Nation­al Per­form­ance Frame­work The Scot­tish Government’s Nation­al Per­form­ance Frame­work sets out elev­en Nation­al Out­comes that aim to get every­one in Scot­land work­ing togeth­er, includ­ing ​‘nation­al and loc­al gov­ern­ment, busi­nesses, vol­un­tary organ­isa­tions and people liv­ing in Scot­land’. There are a few out­comes which are rel­ev­ant to play, recre­ation & sport which include com­munit­ies, envir­on­ment, chil­dren and young people and health.

The Nation­al Out­come for Com­munit­ies sets out the fol­low­ing vision:

‘We believe that access to green­space, nature and oth­er leis­ure activ­it­ies pos­it­ively enhances our lives and health…’

The Nation­al Out­come for Envir­on­ment sets out the fol­low­ing vision:

‘We ensure all com­munit­ies can engage with and bene­fit from nature and green space. We live in clean and unpol­luted envir­on­ments and aspire to being the green­est coun­try in the world…’

The Nation­al Out­come for Chil­dren and Young People sets out the fol­low­ing vision:

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‘Our com­munit­ies are safe places where chil­dren are val­ued, nur­tured and treated with kind­ness. We provide stim­u­lat­ing activ­it­ies and encour­age chil­dren to engage pos­it­ively with the built and nat­ur­al envir­on­ment and to play their part in its care. We provide the con­di­tions in which all chil­dren can be healthy and active…’

The Nation­al Out­come for Health sets out the fol­low­ing vision:

‘We are act­ive and have wide­spread engage­ment with sport and exercise…’

Each out­come is dir­ectly linked to the Scot­tish Government’s response to address­ing United Nations Sus­tain­able Goals. The most rel­ev­ant of these for play, recre­ation & sport are Good Health and Well­being [3], Qual­ity Edu­ca­tion [4], Industry, Innov­a­tion and Infra­struc­ture [9], Reduced Inequal­it­ies [10] and Sus­tain­able Cit­ies and Com­munit­ies [11].

Nation­al Plan­ning Frame­work 4 Nation­al Plan­ning Frame­work 4 sets out the nation­al spa­tial strategy for Scot­land, repla­cing both Nation­al Plan­ning Frame­work 3 and Scot­tish Plan­ning Policy. Its focus on the three main policy themes of sus­tain­able, live­able and pro­duct­ive places aligns with Scotland’s aim of deliv­er­ing on the United Nations Sus­tain­able Goals.

The nation­al spa­tial strategy (page 11) states that:

‘we want to make bet­ter use of our spaces to sup­port phys­ic­al activ­ity, relax­a­tion and play, to bring people togeth­er and to cel­eb­rate our cul­ture, diversity and heritage.’

The import­ance of play, recre­ation and sport in cre­at­ing sus­tain­able, live­able and pro­duct­ive places is emphas­ised through­out Nation­al Plan­ning Frame­work 4 and it is one of 11 top­ics under the live­able theme (Policy 21). Its policy intent is to encour­age and facil­it­ate the need for oppor­tun­it­ies for play, recre­ation and sport.

Loc­al devel­op­ment plans are required, under this policy, to identi­fy sites for sports, play and out­door recre­ation for all age groups. This pro­cess needs to be based on an under­stand­ing of com­munity needs and demand and informed by the planning

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authority’s Play Suf­fi­ciency Assess­ment and Open Space Strategy². These iden­ti­fied sites can be incor­por­ated as part of enhan­cing and expand­ing blue and green infra­struc­ture, tak­ing account of rel­ev­ant agen­cies’ plans or policy frameworks.

The Scot­tish Government’s ​‘loc­al devel­op­ment plan­ning guid­ance’ (May 2023) provides fur­ther explan­a­tion on the require­ments of loc­al devel­op­ment plans. It advises that the spa­tial strategy should seek to identi­fy and max­im­ise the oppor­tun­it­ies for play in the com­munity, in the neigh­bour­hood and in the nat­ur­al envir­on­ment. It explains that apart from identi­fy­ing spe­cif­ic sites for sports, play and out­door recre­ation, the spa­tial strategy should address the wider concept of play and play­ab­il­ity, in the form of inform­al play spaces, in the built and nat­ur­al envir­on­ment. It should recog­nise that access­ible blue and green infra­struc­ture may provide out­door oppor­tun­it­ies for form­al and inform­al play and recreation.

Policy 21 aims to achieve the fol­low­ing outcomes:

  • Improved nat­ur­al and built envir­on­ments with equit­able access to play and recreation.

  • Improved phys­ic­al and men­tal health through pro­vi­sion of, and access to, out­door recre­ation and sports facilities.

The policy cov­ers both the loss and cre­ation of play, recre­ation and sport facil­it­ies as well as the incor­por­a­tion of form­al and inform­al play oppor­tun­it­ies with­in new developments:

  • Exist­ing facil­it­ies are pro­tec­ted — pro­pos­als res­ult­ing in the loss of out­door sports facil­it­ies or play pro­vi­sion must demon­strate no ongo­ing demand or provide bet­ter qual­ity replacements.

  • New, replace­ment and improved facil­it­ies – there is sup­port for new or improved play and sport facil­it­ies, ensur­ing they are well-designed, access­ible, and inclusive.

  • Oppor­tun­it­ies for inform­al and incid­ent­al play are max­im­ised – devel­op­ment pro­pos­als likely to be occu­pied by chil­dren and young people should incor­por­ate well-designed pro­vi­sion for play, recre­ation and relax­a­tion and streets and pub­lic realm that are inclus­ive and enable safe, inde­pend­ent play.

  • Tem­por­ary Use of Land — there is ongo­ing sup­port for tem­por­ary or inform­al play spaces on unused or under­used land.

² Under Sec­tion 3G(6) of Town and Coun­try Plan­ning (Scot­land) Act 1997, the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity is not required to pre­pare and pub­lish an Open Space Strategy. This evid­ence paper refers to Open Space Strategies where they have been pub­lished by the Nation­al Park’s five con­stitu­ent authorities.

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Good qual­ity pro­vi­sion is emphas­ised with a require­ment for inclus­ive, stim­u­lat­ing and integ­rated envir­on­ments with a range of safely access­ible play exper­i­ences suit­able for chil­dren and young people of dif­fer­ent ages. Effect­ive man­age­ment and main­ten­ance plans of facil­it­ies are required to ensure there are fund­ing arrange­ments for their long-term deliv­ery and upkeep

Nation­al Plan­ning Frame­work 4 is com­mit­ted to fos­ter­ing envir­on­ments that sup­port act­ive life­styles and com­munity well-being through well-planned and main­tained play, recre­ation, and sport facilities.

The fol­low­ing Nation­al Plan­ning Frame­work 4 policies are lis­ted as key con­nec­tions to Policy 21 and are rel­ev­ant to this evid­ence base:

Sus­tain­able Places Policy 1 Tack­ling the cli­mate and nature crisis Policy 2 Cli­mate mit­ig­a­tion and adapt­a­tion Policy 3 Biod­iversity Policy 4 Nat­ur­al places Policy 6 Forestry, wood­land and trees Policy 7 His­tor­ic assets and places Policy 9 Brown­field, vacant and derel­ict land and empty build­ings Policy 13 Sus­tain­able transport

Live­able Places Policy 14 Design, qual­ity and place Policy 15 Loc­al liv­ing and 20 minute neigh­bour­hoods Policy 16 Qual­ity homes Policy 17 Rur­al homes Policy 18 Infra­struc­ture first Policy 20 Blue and green infra­struc­ture Policy 22 Flood risk and water man­age­ment Policy 23 Health and safety

Pro­duct­ive Places Policy 27 City, town, loc­al and com­mer­cial centres Policy 31 Cul­ture and creativity

Policy 15 Loc­al liv­ing and 20-minute neigh­bour­hoods men­tions play­grounds and inform­al play oppor­tun­it­ies, parks, green streets and spaces, com­munity gardens,

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oppor­tun­it­ies for food growth and allot­ments, sport and recre­ation facil­it­ies and how access to these facil­it­ies help improve loc­al living.

Policy 20 Blue and green infra­struc­ture, while primar­ily focused on envir­on­ment­al aspects, also sup­ports play and recre­ation by enhan­cing nat­ur­al and built envir­on­ments to improve access to out­door spaces and through integ­rat­ing blue and green infra­struc­ture into devel­op­ments to provide mul­ti­func­tion­al areas that can be used for recre­ation and sport.

Policy 23 Health and safety under­scores the role of plan­ning in pro­mot­ing health and well-being by sup­port­ing devel­op­ments that pos­it­ively impact health, includ­ing those that provide oppor­tun­it­ies for phys­ic­al activ­ity and recre­ation. This policy also links to nat­ur­al envir­on­ment, hous­ing, trans­port and blue and green infra­struc­ture to cre­ate health­i­er places.

Annex D on the six qual­it­ies of suc­cess­ful places is rel­ev­ant to this top­ic. The two with the most rel­ev­ance are

  • Num­ber 2 – Pleas­ant: sup­port­ing attract­ive nat­ur­al and built spaces which ensures design­ing for vari­ety and qual­ity of play and recre­ation spaces for people of all ages and abilities.

  • Num­ber 5 – Sus­tain­able: Sup­port­ing the effi­cient use of resources that will allow people to live, play, work and stay in their area, ensur­ing cli­mate resi­li­ence and integ­rat­ing nature pos­it­ive biod­iversity solu­tions which ensures design­ing for com­munity and loc­al liv­ing includ­ing access to loc­al ser­vices and facil­it­ies, edu­ca­tion, com­munity grow­ing and healthy food options, play and recre­ation and digit­al connectivity.

Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan­ning Guid­ance 2023 The guid­ance advises on page 134 that loc­al devel­op­ment plans should identi­fy sites for sports, play and out­door recre­ation for people of all ages. It advises this should be based on an under­stand­ing of the needs and demand in the com­munity and informed by the plan­ning authority’s Play Suf­fi­ciency Assess­ment and Open Space Strategy. Sports pitch strategies may inform the needs and demand for out­door sports pro­vi­sion, and where rel­ev­ant suit­able pro­vi­sion should be con­sidered through the spa­tial strategy.

The Cairngorms Nation­al Park has pro­duced a play suf­fi­ciency assess­ment. It is not required to pro­duce an open space strategy or sports pitch strategy, instead rely­ing on the strategies pro­duced by the con­stitu­ent loc­al authorities.

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ùgh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

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The guid­ance advises that open spaces can be incor­por­ated as part of enhan­cing and expand­ing blue and green infra­struc­ture, tak­ing account of rel­ev­ant agen­cies’ plans or policy frame­works, such as flood risk and / or water man­age­ment plans.

It advises that con­sid­er­a­tion should be giv­en to key policy con­nec­tions and oth­er oppor­tun­it­ies for play, recre­ation and sports such as with­in nat­ur­al places, forestry and wood­lands, appro­pri­ate water envir­on­ments and in the pub­lic realm and civic spaces.

Play Strategy for Scot­land 2013 and Pro­gress Review 2021 This doc­u­ment seeks to improve the play exper­i­ences of all chil­dren and young people, includ­ing those with dis­ab­il­it­ies or from dis­ad­vant­ages back­grounds. It aims to ensure all chil­dren and young people can access play oppor­tun­it­ies in a range of set­tings which offer vari­ety, adven­ture and chal­lenge. They must be able to play freely and safely while learn­ing to man­age risks and make choices about where, how and when they play accord­ing to their age, stage, abil­ity and preference.

The strategy aims to make Scot­land the best place to grow up, valu­ing play as a life-enhan­cing daily exper­i­ence. It emphas­izes the import­ance of play in homes, nurs­er­ies, schools, and communities.

The need for suf­fi­cient time and space for play with­in com­munit­ies, includ­ing access to nature is high­lighted through­out. This is par­tic­u­larly rel­ev­ant for areas like the Cairngorms Nation­al Park, where nat­ur­al envir­on­ments can be lever­aged for out­door play.

The strategy for imple­ment­a­tion involves col­lab­or­a­tion across sec­tors, includ­ing health, edu­ca­tion, and loc­al author­it­ies, to cre­ate envir­on­ments that sup­port play. This could involve part­ner­ships with organ­isa­tions oper­at­ing with­in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park.

Over­all, the strategy’s focus on com­munity involve­ment, access to nature, and col­lab­or­at­ive efforts aligns well with the goals of enhan­cing play oppor­tun­it­ies with­in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park.

A review of this doc­u­ment was under­taken in 2020 and updated in 2021 to reflect the Cov­id-19 con­text. It includes a sum­mary of a Play Scot­land con­sulta­tion with chil­dren and young people on their views on play and the pan­dem­ic. It makes the fol­low­ing eight recom­mend­a­tions to pro­gress and refresh Scotland’s Play Strategy:

  1. Refresh the Play Strategy and ensure nation­al and loc­al lead­er­ship sup­ports a child’s right to play.

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  1. Renew and devel­op the nation­al and loc­al com­mit­ment to out­door play.
  2. Listen to chil­dren and young people and act on what they say.
  3. Ensure the inclu­sion of all chil­dren and young people.
  4. Ensure cross sec­tor­al and inter pro­fes­sion­al approaches to play are in place.
  5. Sus­tain and sup­port play pro­vi­sion through adequate funding.
  6. Main­tain a focus on play­ful learn­ing and play in schools.
  7. Strengthen the play sec­tor nation­ally and locally.

It con­cludes that at a time of major change and dis­rup­tion, it is more import­ant than ever to main­tain and strengthen a focus on children’s right to play.

Play vis­ion state­ment and action plan 2025 to 2030 The Play: vis­ion state­ment and action plan 2025 to 2030 builds on the Play Strategy from 2013, set­ting out the vis­ion for the future and the actions to be taken in part­ner­ship with pub­lic and third sec­tor partners.

The 2013 strategy ensured that Scot­land became the first coun­try in the United King­dom to incor­por­ate the United Nations Con­ven­tion on the Rights of the Child into its domest­ic law, includ­ing the right to play enshrined in Art­icle 31. This has ensured that play is being fully incor­por­ated into the plan­ning sys­tem through the require­ment of Play Suf­fi­ciency Assessments.

Work­ing in col­lab­or­a­tion with part­ners, ten main actions have been iden­ti­fied which will sup­port the deliv­ery of the drivers with­in the Play The­ory of Change and, ulti­mately, the aim and vis­ion for play in Scotland.

The stra­tegic goals and actions included in this doc­u­ment include:

  • Strength­en­ing sup­port for par­ents to encour­age play, includ­ing through the Baby Box Pro­gramme and health vis­it­or guidance.

  • Devel­op­ing inclus­ive, safe, and access­ible play spaces, par­tic­u­larly in low-income areas and for chil­dren with spe­cif­ic needs.

  • Sup­port­ing edu­cat­ors and child­care pro­viders in pro­mot­ing play, includ­ing through train­ing and resources.

A More Act­ive Scot­land: Scotland’s Phys­ic­al Activ­ity Deliv­ery Plan This doc­u­ment sets out the import­ance of phys­ic­al activ­ity and sport; how act­ive people in Scot­land are; and aims and object­ives to ensure more people are act­ive, more often. This is meas­ured using a set of indic­at­ors repor­ted on the Act­ive Scot­land Outcomes

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Frame­work web­site³. The plan emphas­ises a need for Com­munity Engage­ment to help encour­age the devel­op­ment and main­ten­ance of act­ive spaces.

The Guid­ing Prin­ciples in this doc­u­ment include:

  • Human Rights-based approach: Enga­ging and empower­ing indi­vidu­als and com­munit­ies to act­ively participate.

  • Equity across the Life Course: Provid­ing oppor­tun­it­ies for all ages and abil­it­ies, pri­or­it­iz­ing those facing disparities.

  • Evid­ence-based prac­tice: Util­iz­ing robust evid­ence to inform actions.

  • Redu­cing Inequal­ity: Focus­ing on redu­cing inequal­ity in oppor­tun­it­ies to participate.

  • Empower­ment: Encour­aging par­ti­cip­a­tion in policy and inter­ven­tion development.

  • Joined-up policy: Enhan­cing policy coher­ence across sectors.

  • Multi-sec­tor­al part­ner­ships: Fos­ter­ing col­lab­or­a­tion across stakeholders.

The plan aligns with the World Health Organ­isa­tion Glob­al Action Plan on Phys­ic­al Activ­ity which aims to reduce phys­ic­al inactiv­ity by 15% by 2030. The over­all aim is to cre­ate a health­i­er, more act­ive Scot­land by address­ing phys­ic­al activ­ity across all ages and communities.

Phys­ic­al Activ­ity for Health: Scotland’s Nation­al Frame­work The pur­pose of this doc­u­ment is to provide a frame­work for improv­ing phys­ic­al activ­ity levels in Scot­land, based on evid­ence from the World Health Organ­iz­a­tion and oth­er glob­al part­ners. This should be achieved at both nation­al and loc­al levels.

Since the pub­lic­a­tion of the Act­ive Scot­land Deliv­ery Plan in 2018, inter­na­tion­al evid­ence on the impact of phys­ic­al inactiv­ity on health has developed sig­ni­fic­antly. New evid­ence-based approaches to improv­ing phys­ic­al activ­ity have emerged and the pan­dem­ic and the cost-of-liv­ing crisis has had dra­mat­ic impacts on soci­ety, fur­ther rein­for­cing the imper­at­ive need to focus even more on address­ing inequalities.

There are key over­arch­ing pub­lic health prin­ciples, adap­ted from the World Health Organ­isa­tion Glob­al Action Plan for Phys­ic­al Activ­ity and the char­ac­ter­ist­ics of a whole sys­tems approach advoc­ated by Pub­lic Health Reform in Scot­land which are to be used to improve levels of phys­ic­al activ­ity in Scot­land. These include:

  • Col­lab­or­at­ive leadership

  • Clear gov­ernance and resourcing

  • Multi­sect­or­al partnerships

³ http://www.gov.scot/About/Performance/scotPerforms/partnerstories/Outcomes-Framework/Dashboard

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  • Engage­ment and empower­ment of poli­cy­makers, prac­ti­tion­ers and communities

  • A Human rights-based approach

  • Equal­ity and inclusion

  • Policy coher­ence

  • Equity across the life course

  • Pro­por­tion­ate universalism

  • Evid­ence-based policy and practice

  • Place-based approaches

With­in this doc­u­ment, eight evid­ence-based stra­tegic out­comes have been cre­ated. For each, a brief descrip­tion has been provided of nation­al actions which are con­tri­bu­tion to the deliv­ery of that outcome.

These stra­tegic deliv­ery out­comes are:

  1. Act­ive Sys­tems: Strength­en­ing lead­er­ship, gov­ernance, and multi­sect­or­al partnerships.
  2. Act­ive Places of Lean­ing: Pro­mot­ing phys­ic­al activ­ity in schools, col­leges, and universities
  3. Act­ive Travel: Pri­or­it­iz­ing walk­ing, wheel­ing, and cyc­ling and the infra­struc­ture required for these activities.
  4. Act­ive Places and Spaces: Improv­ing access to pub­lic parks, green spaces, and recre­ation­al facilities.
  5. Act­ive Health and Social Care: Integ­rat­ing phys­ic­al activ­ity into health­care and rehabilitation.
  6. Act­ive Com­mu­nic­a­tions: Using mass media to pro­mote phys­ic­al activity.
  7. Act­ive Sport and Recre­ation: Provid­ing inclus­ive sport and recre­ation opportunities.
  8. Act­ive Work­places: Encour­aging phys­ic­al activ­ity in work­place environments.

The over­all tar­get for this report and its pro­posed actions is to achieve a 15% rel­at­ive reduc­tion in phys­ic­al inactiv­ity by 2030, aligned with World Health Organ­isa­tion tar­gets. Pro­gress will be tracked through nation­al sur­veys and indic­at­ors, with a focus on redu­cing inactiv­ity and improv­ing over­all phys­ic­al activ­ity levels.

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan 2022 – 2027 This plan out­lines the stra­tegic vision

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