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CAIRNGORMS LOCAL OUTDOOR ACCESS FORUM 
Paper 6 Update and look forward 9th February 2010 

CAIRNGORMS LOCAL OUTDOOR ACCESS FORUM 


Title: 
Update and look forward for the next 3 months 

Prepared by: 
Adam Streeter-Smith, Outdoor Access Officer 

Purpose: 
This paper provides an update and flavour on the main areas 
of work undertaken to deliver the key themes in the 
Outdoor Access Strategy by the CNPA staff and partners. 

Advice Sought: 

Forum members are asked to note the work undertaken. Any questions, comments or 
suggestions are very welcome. 

Action Theme 1: Improving path provision and quality 

IMPLEMENTING THE CORE PATHS PLAN 

1. 
Core Paths Plan – The Minister for the Environment has directed the CNPA to adopt 
the Core Paths Plan subject to one modification: 

• The Removal of LBS145 (the road between Nethybridge and the Braes of Abernethy 
junction) – this route is all on public road and is approximately 9km in length. 

This means that the final plan will have: 

• 254 core paths 
• Over 900km or 579miles of path 

Next steps will be to seek Board approval to adopt the plan on the 19th of March 2010 
as well as the implementation plan. This will also influence Cairngorms Outdoor Access 
Trust’s (COAT’s) next business plan. 

2. 
COAT -have been moving projects forward very quickly as part of their current two 
year business plan a flavour of which is: 

• Planning permission has been sought for a new route bridge over the River Don 
linking the community with the Lonach Hall. 
• A new route linking Dinnet with Glen Tanar (UDE4) has been surveyed and planning 
permission has been submitted. 
• Planning permission will shortly be sought for the riverside path in Dulnain and 
agreements are close to being finalised. 
• The Mountain Heritage Project has received a favourable response from two major 
funders: European Regional Development Fund which has given approval and 
Heritage Lottery Fund which has provided Stage 1 approval. It is anticipated that the 
4 year programme of works will commence this summer. All told the project value 
will be in excess of £2 million. 


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3. 
The Speyside Way -Project planning is under way for the development of the 
extension. Work for the next few months will focus on getting agreements and 
permissions in place before planning applications are made for the new sections. 
Funding for the extension will be sought concurrently with planning and agreements. 

4. 
Management of the existing route will have new arrangements in place from 1 April. 
Each Access Authority will take responsibility for the management and maintenance of 
the route within their own area. A small resource will be given to Moray Council to 
deal with questions and queries that arise from members of the public. 

Action Theme 2: Promoting responsible outdoor access and management 

5. 
Scottish Outdoor Access Code -SNH has just embarked on a process to gather 
information to review the Code. This is primarily to determine when a review of the 
Code may be required. 

6. 
Promoting outdoor access opportunities responsibly -CNPA is continuing with 
its focus on dogs as the key message from the code with a number of initiatives planned 
over the next few months. 

7. 
Responsible promotion of outdoor opportunities -The CNPA has been 
developing guidance on this issue and will be seeking Board approval in March to 
publicise it. Timely as other parties such as the SRPBA have raised this as a issue. 

8. 
National Outdoor Access Events Review by the National Access Forum -A 
subgroup of the NAF is taking forward the development of national guidance on 
outdoor events, building on the work undertaken by the CNPA, with EventScotland 
providing a link to event organisers. The group has met once and a draft is in 
preparation. 

Action Theme 4: Promoting sustainable transport for the enjoyment of the 
Cairngorms National Park 

9. 
Cairngorms Explorer Guide -finance committee agreed a downsizing of this guide 
into a leaflet promoting sustainable travel but not including the timetables. 

10. Heather Hopper -current usage for this service is not as high as hoped despite 
considerable efforts to market the service over the last 3 years. CNPA Board together 
with Highland and Aberdeenshire Councils has agreed to no longer support the service 
which will result in its closure. Other sustainable transport opportunities are currently 
being explored. 

Action Theme 5: Promoting healthy lifestyles 

11. 
Health Walks - COAT in partnership with Walk Deeside has recently appointed a coordinator 
for Badenoch and Strathspey. 

Other National Park Initiatives 


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12. Sustainable Tourism Strategy-The existing strategy and action plan is being 
redeveloped to keep our Europarc Charter status. In line with the marketing framework 
being developed by the Cairngorms Business Partnership. 

13. Landscape Framework-Is a spatial tool being developed by the CNPA to look at 
part of the Park or the whole of the Park, making sense of the geographical and cultural 
aspects when planning for change. 


Adam Streeter-Smith 
February 2010 

adamstreetersmith@cairngorms.co.uk