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CAIRNGORMS NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY 
FINANCE COMMITTEE 
MINUTES 15/05/2009 

MINUTES of MEETING of the 
FINANCE COMMITTEE of 


THE CAIRNGORMS NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY 
held at Community Hall, Boat of Garten 
on 15th May 2009 


Present: 

Eleanor Mackintosh (Chair) 	Mary McCafferty 
David Green 		David Fallows 

In Attendance: 

Jane Hope, Chief Executive 
Alistair Highet, Finance Manager 
David Cameron, Head of Corporate Services 
Pete Crane, Senior Visitor Services Officer 
Matthew Hawkins, Senior Natural Heritage Officer 

Apologies 

Richard Stroud 



Welcome and Apologies 

1. The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and noted apologies as above. 


Minutes of Meeting 20 March 2009 

2. The minutes of the meeting were agreed without amendment. 


Matters Arising 

3. Referring to the discussion at the previous meeting on the budget for 2009/10, David 
Cameron reported that the grant and total resource allocation for the year had yet 
to be confirmed by Scottish Government. 

4. David Green referred to the discussion on the grant to the Cairngorms Outdoor 
Access Trust (COAT). 

5. Prior to further discussion on this point, both David Fallows and David Cameron 
declared an interest as Directors of COAT. The Chair noted these declarations and 
David Green highlight that his point would not require the Directors to leave the 
room. 


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6. David Green reported on his attendance at a successful media launch by COAT of a 
new bridge near Kingussie, and asked how the intended use of the National Park 
brand by the Trust was being progressed. David Cameron reported that the Trust’s 
use of the brand has been highlighted in the 2009/10 grant offer letter as a condition 
of grant. This matter would be progressed in detail by the Authority’s Access Team 
in conjunction with the Trust Manager. 

Review of Financial Year 2008/09 (Paper 1) 

7. Alistair Highet reported on the final monitoring position for the 2008/09 financial 
year, highlighting what he believed to be a very successful result of a small surplus at 
year end of £16,000. This year-end position compared with a mid-year forecast loss 
of £59k. The £16k surplus represents 0.4% of Grant in Aid received in the year. 

8. Alistair reported that the £75k variance against mid-year forecast is mainly the result 
of managing Operational Plan income & expenditure across the organisation towards 
a targeted break even outcome. 

9. The position was warmly welcomed by Committee, who thanked Alistair and his 
team for all their work in delivering a result so close to the break even target. 

10. David Cameron reported that the external audit of the financial accounts was 
progressing and no significant items had been raised to date. 

11. In discussion, members noted that expenditure patterns were still loaded very much 
toward the end of the financial year. Alistair is seeking to put additional systems in 
place to seek to address this issue and deliver a more even pattern of expenditure 
over the year, and hence reduce year-end risk of significant over- or under- spends. 
However, it was recognised that there would likely be some lead time remaining in 
the system, particularly relating to new project activities, where budget holders 
would take some time to design and receive approval for projects before moving on 
to committing funds. 

12. Members noted and warmly welcomed the financial results for 2008/09 
and noted the additional analysis of expenditure over Operational Plan 
areas in the year. 

Sale of Panoramic Posters 

13. Peter Crane reported on discussions he and colleagues had been having with the 
Cairngorms Chamber of Commerce on the trial sale of posters using the National 
Park panoramas. The Authority and the Chamber were seeking to arrive at a 
partnership agreement that would allow existing business networks to be used to 
trial the sale of these posters, rather than officers undertaking the trial. 

14. Peter outlined the intention to provide the Chamber with a grant in the order of 
£5,000 to undertake the trial, to support the time taken in the project. A further 
cost in the order of £5,500 was anticipated for the print of 10,000 posters, following 


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internal officer discussion and agreement that it would seem the best course of 
action for the Authority to pay for and own the printed posters. The funding to the 
Chamber would support the networking and distribution of the product. 

15. Pete had been in discussion with the Finance Manager over the trial project. The 
view remained that any net income received from the project would be allocated to 
COAT. The objective of the trial remained one of determining the likely commercial 
viability of the product, and allowing the Authority to better manage and gain best 
value for any future licensing or outsourcing of the panoramas for use of posters. 
The production of posters was also intended as a contribution toward raising public 
awareness of the National Park. 

16. In discussion, it was noted that the advantage of ownership of the posters 
themselves would be that the Authority retains the right of use of any surplus 
products remaining at the end of the trial project. 

17. The Committee noted the update and noted that they would receive 
further information as the project progressed. 

Any Other Business 

Landscape Character Assessment Project and Expenditure Proposal 

18. The Chair highlighted that a Project and Expenditure Proposal had been circulated 
by email to Committee members with a request that it be considered under Other 
Business. The Chair asked that officers seek wherever possible to ensure that 
Expenditure Justification proposals are included with agenda papers to ensure time 
to consider them fully and also allow other Board members to see them. Officers 
noted this point and assured members that they would continue to seek to issue 
expenditure proposals with agenda papers. David Cameron highlighted that, in this 
case, the original expectation was that the project would cost under £25,000 and 
would not have required full Committee approval. However, on the basis of tenders 
received there was a possibility that the value may exceed £25,000, therefore the 
opportunity to bring the proposal to the scheduled meeting of the Committee had 
been taken. 

19. Matthew Hawkins highlighted that the aim of the project was to provide an up to 
date description of the landscapes of the National Park, including distribution and 
special features that make them special. Matthew reported he is seeking approval to 
expenditure of £46,000 for the project. 

20. In discussion, the Committee noted that there had been some variation in the 
content of tenders received and some difficulty in establishing an appropriate 
assessment of tenders against the specification. Some potential contractors had 
included additional work that would be valuable. It was agreed that Matthew would 
return to potential contractors seeking clarity of proposed cost against the core 
project brief. 

21. The Committee agreed funding at a ceiling of £46,000 to progress work 
on the Landscape Character Assessment. 



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22. David Cameron updated Committee on progress in reviewing the Land Based 
Business Training Project (LBBTP) and potential future funding and sustainability of 
services provided through the project. Consultants working on the review had 
requested an extension for providing the draft report, and this was now expected at 
the end of May. The consultants had reported difficulty in getting views on the 
future of project services from some partners. 

23. The Chief Executive reported to Committee that the “Rural Family” within Scottish 
Government had been undertaking scenario planning for future budget situations, in 
light of anticipated total reductions in Scottish Government funding in future years. 
There was nothing concrete to report at this stage. Jane highlighted that she wished 
to make the Committee aware at this early point that she and David Cameron were 
aware of the situation and were managing the financial situation, in order that the 
Authority could be as well placed as possible to deal with any future budget 
adjustments. 


Date of Next Meeting 

24. 7 August, Glenmore Lodge, Glenmore.