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CAIRNGORMS NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY 
Paper 5 11/03/05 

CAIRNGORMS NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY 

FOR INFORMATION 

Title: Cairngorms LEADER+ Programme Update 

Prepared by: Nick Halfhide, Head of Strategic Policy and Programme 
Management 


Purpose 

To update Members on the progress of the Cairngorms LEADER+ Programme, and to alert 
them to a recent increase in funding. 


Recommendations 

• That the Board note the progress of the Cairngorms LEADER+ Programme and the 
recent award of £300,000 extra funds. 


Executive Summary 

The Cairngorms LEADER+ Programme is administered by the CNPA on behalf of a wider 
group of voluntary, business and public sector interests. It has been running throughout the 
National Park and surrounding communities since 2002, can commit funds until the end of 
2006, and must make final payments by the end of 2007. 

To the end of 2004, the Programme has supported 82 projects, committing 90% of its original 
£1,007,000 budget. The Scottish Executive has recently awarded the Programme an 
additional £318,000. 

The CNPA and the Cairngorms Partnership have contributed match funding to over 30 
projects which help to deliver the themes and goals in the Corporate Plan, and thus the aims 
of the National Park. 

The CNPA currently contributes £13,500 per year to pay for the administration of the 
Programme, approximately 22% of the total administration costs. 

 
Cairngorms LEADER+ Programme Update – FOR INFORMATION 

Background 

1. Background information to the Cairngorms LEADER+ Programme was set out in 
Paper 3 08/10/04. In brief, LEADER+ is a European grant-giving programme aimed 
at the sustainable development of Scotland’s rural communities. There are thirteen 
programmes running in Scotland. The Cairngorms Programme is focused on the 
theme of “helping the communities to make best use of natural and cultural 
resources”. It runs from 2002 to 2007 and can support work in the National Park and 
neighbouring areas. 

2. The CNPA acts as the lead body for the Cairngorms LEADER+ programme. We also 
provide a financial contribution to administration costs, as well as in-kind support 
through employing the officers, providing office accommodation and management 
support. The Board agreed a further package of support in October 2004 to part fund 
the administration of the Programme until 2007. 

3. Whilst the CNPA is the lead body for the Programme, its overall management is 
directed by a Local Action Group (LAG) comprising representatives from the public, 
private and community partners in the area, including the CNPA. It is chaired 
independently by Peter Mackay. 

4. As part of this role, the LAG oversees the Programme administration, which 
comprises three staff based in the CNPA office in Grantown. The staff are linemanaged 
by the Head of Strategic Policy and Programme Management. Funding for 
the administration is provided by the CNPA, 4 local authorities, 2 local enterprise 
companies, SNH and LEADER+. 

5. The effectiveness of the administration is measured through a series of targets, and 
ultimately by the success of the programme itself. Targets include meeting certain 
spending deadlines set by the European Union for the Scottish Programme, known as 
“n+2”, “n+3” etc. If these spending deadlines are not met, the amount of funding for 
subsequent years is reduced. 


Funding 

6. The Scottish Executive made an initial allocation of £1,007,000 of LEADER+ to the 
Programme. We predicted that this would be matched by £1,326,000 from public 
funds and £107,000 from the private sector. This would deliver approximately 100 
projects. 

7. By the end of 2004, the Programme had approved a total of 82 projects, committing 
£902,953 of the original £1,007,000, about 90%. We have paid out approximately 
45% of the money committed to the end of 2004. 


Bid for Extra Funds 

8. As a result of this high level of commitment and spend, and our knowledge of the 
latent demand for assistance for work throughout the area, we submitted a bid for an 
additional £400,000 at the end of December 2004. This was part of a Scotland-wide 
call for bids.
 
9. We have recently heard that the Scottish Executive have awarded us a further 
£318,000, an overall increase of 32% on the original allocation. This additional money 
is subject to the same conditions and must be committed by the end of 2006 and spent 
by the end of 2007. 


Targets 

10. The Programme has exceeded most of its original targets and an additional set has 
now been suggested, but not yet confirmed, for the new funds. These are listed in 
Annex 1. 


Projects 

11. Projects supported by the Programme cover a wide range of community-based activity 
seeking both to make more use of the natural and cultural resources of the area, and to 
build capacity within communities to take advantage of these opportunities. A full list 
of projects approved to the end of 2004 is attached at Annex 2. 

12. As well as being the Lead Body for the Programme, the CNPA and the Cairngorms 
Partnership have made extensive use of the Programme to part fund activities in and 
around the Park. Of the 82 projects approved, the CNPA has contributed to over 30, 
including the John Muir Award in the Cairngorms, the Small Grants Scheme, and the 
Association of Cairngorms Community Councils. 


Issues 

13. At the start of 2004, the LAG conducted a mid-term review. This concluded that for 
the remaining years of the Programme, we needed to put even more emphasis on 
women and young people – asking both groups directly what their needs are - and the 
environment – focusing particularly on projects linked to Natura 2000 sites, and green 
tourism. 

14. Looking further ahead, both the LAG and CNPA have begun to consider how the Park 
can best benefit from the new arrangements being considered for the next Structural 
Support Period 2007-13. 


Policy Context 

15. The Programme is an important mechanism for achieving the first three Themes of the 
Corporate Plan, and in particular Goal 17 “Improved Community capacity to help 
deliver the 4 aims of the Park”. 

16. The Programme helps to deliver the three Cross Cutting Themes in the Corporate Plan 
as follows: 

a) Delivering Sustainability 

i) Sustainability is a key thread running through the LEADER+ programme. At 
a national level, the aim of the Scottish Programme is “to pilot and 
communicate innovative approaches to rural development that will promote 
the sustainable economic, environmental and social development of Scotland’s 
rural communities”. 

ii) Within the Cairngorms Programme, the LAG considers a wide range of 
sustainability criteria for each project seeking funding. This focuses on the 
likely impacts of the project on the local economy, environment and 
community; as well as the long-term viability of the project itself. 

b) Delivering a Park for All 

i) The Programme is targeted specifically, but not exclusively, at women and 
young people. Across Europe, these groups are seen as being particularly 
disadvantaged within rural communities. 

ii) The Programme, using match funding from the CNPA, has supported a 
number of projects to help these target groups as well as insisting that broader 
schemes, such as the John Muir Award, also make a particular effort to reach 
women and young people. 

iii) More broadly, the Programme aims to support as wide a range of activity as 
possible within the Park and beyond that will stimulate rural development. 
The Programme is designed to be flexible and accessible so that support 
reaches all areas. To that end, the Programme Manager is proactive in 
bringing together groups of people to explore different ideas and proposals, 
and provides a high level of on-going support to applicants. 

iv) Taken together, this overall inclusive and supportive approach, as well as a 
focus on disadvantaged groups, will help to deliver a Park for All. 

c) Delivering Economy, Effectiveness and Efficiency 

i) The Programme is a very efficient and effective way of delivering European 
support to rural communities. Feedback from applicants has consistently 
welcomed the ease of application, speed of decision-making, and simplicity of 
claiming and reporting. 

ii) From the CNPA’s perspective, the Programme is a very economic way of 
delivering financial support for rural development – the Programme provides 
up to 45% of the costs of each project, and due to high levels of match funding 
from the Programme and other public bodies, only costs the CNPA £13,500 to 
administer, about 22% of the total administration costs. 

iii) The Programme is tightly monitored by the Scottish Executive and we have 
met their audit and spending requirements. 


Implications 

17. The implications for the CNPA and the Park are as follows: 

a) Financial Implications 

i) There are two financial implications for the CNPA of the additional funds. As 
a potential applicant, this is good news as it is additional money available to 
help match fund our activities over the life of the 05-08 Corporate Plan. As 
the administrator and Lead Body for the Programme, the implications are less 
certain at the moment. Our initial assessment is that we can administer this 
increased level of funding within existing resources but we are unable to 
confirm this until we have discussed this with the other funding parties on the 
LAG. 

b) Presentational Implications 

i) The new money is a good news story for the Park as a whole, and particularly 
its communities, as well as for the CNPA. It is a successful example of our 
role as an enabler, working with other interests to secure and then deliver 
funds to achieve the aims of the Park. 

c) Implications for Stakeholders 

i) Implications for all our stakeholders are positive. This is an opportunity to 
fund more activity across the Park and its neighbouring communities. In 
particular, it means that we can speed up the rate at which these activities will 
take place. For the public sector it means making match funding available to 
support projects; initial indications from LAG members are that much of the 
match funding is in place and has been waiting on this additional allocation of 
European money. 


Conclusions 

18. The Programme has been very successful to date in supporting a wide range of 
projects in the Park and beyond. The additional money which we have recently been 
allocated will enable the Programme to continue this work, and in so doing, help 
achieve the 4 aims of the Park. 

Nick Halfhide 
February 2005 

nickhalfhide@cairngorms.co.uk 

 
Table  -  Making the best use of natural and cultural resources 

(Table not available in text format - please refer to PDF)