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CAIRNGORMS LOCAL OUTDOOR ACCESS FORUM 
Paper 1 6 September2005 

CAIRNGORMS LOCAL OUTDOOR ACCESS FORUM 

COMMUNICATIONS PLAN 

The Operating Principles state that the Forum shall achieve communication with people 
interested in outdoor access in the Cairngorms National Park, in accordance with a 
Communications Plan, which will establish the purpose, nature and methods of such 
communication. 


Purpose 

1. The Forum is required to both give and receive communication from the public regarding 
outdoor access issues. Specifically, the Forum needs to be generally aware of, and 
where appropriate advise on, the concerns and queries that are raised by the public 
regarding outdoor access. At a strategic level, the Forum has a role to play in the 
information provision and education of the wider public on outdoor access matters in the 
National Park. 

2. The communication plan is expected to be rolled out gradually over the next few months 
in accordance with the developing capacity of the Forum and officers to undertake the 
specific actions involved. 


Who the Forum will communicate with 

3. The Forum will endeavour to communicate with the following organisations and 
individuals that have an interest in outdoor access. The list is not comprehensive and it is 
expected that other partners and individuals will be identified as knowledge of the Forum 
and its work develops. 

Community 
- Association of Cairngorms Community Councils 
- Cairngorms Chamber of Commerce 
- Editors of Community Newsletters 
- Local path groups and community development trusts 
- Local conservation groups – natural and cultural heritage 
- Ranger Services 

Incl. interested individuals 


Recreational Users 
- British Horse Society 
- Cycling Scotland 
- Cyclists’ Touring Club 
- Highland Cycle Campaign 
- Mountaineering Council of Scotland 
- North East Mountain Trust 
- Ramblers Scotland 
- Scottish Canoe Association 
- Scottish Endurance Riding Club 
- Scottish Advisory Panel for Outdoor Education 
- Scottish Orienteering Association 
- Scottish Sports Association 
- Scotways 
- Sportscotland 
- Sustrans 

Incl. local recreation user groups and clubs 


Land Management interests 
- Association of Deer Management Groups 
- British Association for Shooting and Conservation 
- Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group 
- Forestry and Timber Association 
- National Farmers Union Scotland 
- National Trust for Scotland 
- Royal Society for the Protection of Birds 
- Scottish Estates Business Group 
- Scottish Gamekeepers Association 
- Scottish Rural and Property Business Association 

Incl. individual estate owners and land managers 


National Park Authority groups 
- CNPA Board 
- The Visitor Services, Information, and Tourism (ViSIT) Forum 


Others 
- Cairngorms Campaign 
- Grampian Enterprise 
- Highland and Islands Enterprise - Moray 
- Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey 
- Enterprise 
- Local authorities and adjacent Local Access Forums 
- Scottish Environment Link 
- Tayside Enterprise 
- Visitscotland 


How the Forum will communicate 

4. Meetings – the Forum will make minutes and agendas of meetings widely available to 
the public. This will be done by setting up a mailing group open to all those individuals 
and organisations that want to be copied into papers. The mailing group will be 
predominantly email based but will not preclude sending out papers by post. As the 
Forum is an advisory rather than a decision making body, it is currently envisaged that 
meetings will not be open to the public. This will be subject to review after a year’s 
operation. 

5. The Press – when appropriate issues arise, the Forum will communicate via the Press 
using regular post-meeting press releases. The Forum will target the main local papers - 
the ‘Strathy’; the Deeside and Donside Pipers; the Northern Scot; the Forfar Dispatch 
Group and the Press and Journal. The Forum will also consider communicating where 
appropriate with more specialist press such as community, land management and 
recreational user magazines. 

6. The Website – the Forum will seek to establish two way communication with interested 
parties and stakeholders through the CNPA website. 

7. Newsletter – the Forum will look at the feasibility of communicating with stakeholders 
and interested parties using a short newsletter dedicated to outdoor access issues. 

8. Use of Subgroups – where considered appropriate, the Forum will set up working groups 
to address specific topic or area based access issues. The subgroups may consist of 
Forum members, external interested parties and specialist advisers. 

9. Annual Gathering – The Forum will convene an annual conference on a key theme of 
outdoor access aimed to involve the wider population of outdoor access interests. 


Fran Pothecary 
August 2005 
franpothecary@cairngorms.co.uk