Visitor Infrastructure Improvement Programme

Vis­it­or Infra­struc­ture Improve­ment Programme

What is the fund?

Back­ground

The Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity has fund­ing avail­able to help plan and install appro­pri­ate vis­it­or infra­struc­ture in the Park that assists in deliv­er­ing the pri­or­it­ies set out in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan 2022 – 27 (https://​part​ner​shipplan​.cairngorms​.co​.uk) and the related Stra­tegic Tour­ism Infra­struc­ture Plan Cairngorms Stra­tegic Tour­ism Infra­struc­ture Devel­op­ment Plan 2023 2028.

How much is the fund worth?

The Park Author­ity can nor­mally con­trib­ute up to 70% of total pro­ject costs, up to a total value not exceed­ing £100,000, although in excep­tion­al cir­cum­stances a high­er inter­ven­tion rate or costs may be possible.

Applic­a­tion Criteria

Object­ives

The Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity is seek­ing expres­sions of interest for cap­it­al fund­ing to deliv­er Vis­it­or Infra­struc­ture Improve­ments, which should help meet the fol­low­ing Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan objectives:

1. Wel­come vis­it­ors and provide a high-qual­ity exper­i­ence while man­aging their impacts through provid­ing bet­ter infrastructure.
2. Sta­bil­ise vis­it­or num­bers in the peak sea­son, focus­ing growth on quieter months and on those areas that have the infra­struc­ture and capa­city to accom­mod­ate addi­tion­al visitors.
3. Improve path, cycle and out­door access net­works to give out­stand­ing oppor­tun­it­ies to exper­i­ence the nat­ur­al and cul­tur­al her­it­age of the Nation­al Park to the widest range of people, while min­im­ising dis­turb­ance to vul­ner­able spe­cies, hab­it­ats and sites.

In deliv­er­ing these object­ives pro­jects should also assist with one or more of the following:

• Redu­cing poten­tial con­flicts between res­id­ents and vis­it­ors and / or between dif­fer­ent recre­ation­al activities
• Pro­mot­ing col­lab­or­a­tion across land man­age­ment and organ­isa­tion­al boundaries
• Help­ing provide bet­ter oppor­tun­it­ies for every­one to enjoy the Nation­al Park so the vis­it­or pro­file will be more diverse, espe­cially with regards to people who are disabled
• Deliv­er­ing improve­ments at iden­ti­fied sites across all areas of the Park or improve­ments that address spe­cif­ic issues that are iden­ti­fied in the Stra­tegic Tour­ism Infra­struc­ture Plan or Act­ive Cairngorms Action Plan

What are the key date?

Expres­sion of interest open from 10^th March 2025- applic­ants are encour­aged to apply early to enable con­ver­sa­tion to start on poten­tial sub­mis­sions of full grant applic­a­tions Expres­sion of interest close on 31^st of March 2025 Expres­sion of interest will then be assessed with full applic­a­tions open 14 April – 9 May 2025 Applic­a­tion assess­ment from 12^th of May to 23^rd of May 2025 Grant award let­ter issued by 28^th May 2025

Ready to sub­mit an Expres­sion of Interest (EOI)

1. Applic­ants must clearly detail their pro­ject pro­pos­al, includ­ing cost­ings, and demon­strate how it will deliv­er the object­ives out­lined above and / or pri­or­it­ies in the Stra­tegic Tour­ism Infra­struc­ture Plan
2. If you would like to dis­cuss your pro­pos­al before sub­mit­ting the EOI, please con­tact Adam Streeter-Smith, Recre­ation and Access Man­ager, on 01479 870539.
3. All pro­jects must be com­pleted, and the grant claimed by 31 March 2026. Pro­jects may be split across the 2025/2026 to 2026/2027 fin­an­cial year for devel­op­ment and imple­ment­a­tion but there is no guar­an­tee of fund­ing in 2026/2027
4. Inform­a­tion will also be stored and col­lated for expendit­ure in future years so please sub­mit any rel­ev­ant inform­a­tion that you think may be use­ful for fol­low-on activity.

You can com­plete an elec­tron­ic expres­sion of interest form here. If you required an alter­at­ive format please con­tact us.

How to con­tact the fund

outdooraccess@​cairngorms.​co.​uk