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CAIRNGORMS NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY 
Paper 10 15/06/07 


CAIRNGORMS NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY 


FOR INFORMATION 


Title: LANDSCAPE PARTNERSHIP PROJECT 

Prepared by: Quentin McLaren, External Funding Officer 

Purpose 

The purpose of this paper is to inform the Board about the outcome of our ‘Expression of 
Interest’ application to the Heritage Lottery Fund as part of the agreed Stage 1 application 
process for the Landscape Partnership Project. 


Executive Summary 

At the March meeting of the Board it was agreed that: 

“the Cairngorms National Park Authority should submit a Stage 1 application to the 
Heritage Lottery Fund for a Landscapes Partnership Project on October 1st.” 

In order to kick start the process the Heritage Lottery Fund require potential applicants to 
submit an ‘Expression of Interest’ application which describes in general terms the scope of 
the proposed Landscape Partnership Project. An application was duly submitted and the 
Heritage Lottery Fund has made the following comments: 

(a) the area chosen is too large 
(b) the Landscape Partnership Project process is being streamlined and a new process 
will be in place towards the end of this year 


LANDSCAPE PARTNERSHIP PROJECT – FOR INFORMATION 

Introduction 

1. Following the Board meeting an Expression of interest was completed and submitted 
to the Heritage Lottery Fund. The application reflected 6 of the agreed priorities for 
action ie: 

a) Integrating Public Support for Land Management 
b) Conserving and Enhancing Biodiversity and Landscapes 
c) Supporting Sustainable Deer Management 
d) Providing High Quality Opportunities for Outdoor Access 
e) Making Tourism and Business More Sustainable 
f) Raising Awareness and Understanding of the Park 

2. The lead partner would be the Cairngorms National Park Authority and an initial 
proposed partnership included: 

a) Forestry Commission for Scotland 
b) The 4 local authorities 
c) The 3 Enterprise companies 
d) Scottish Natural Heritage 
e) Association of Cairngorms Community Councils 

3. It was proposed that the project would be synthesised and delivered though a 
Steering Group reflecting the diversity of the area. It was felt that a LEADER+ type 
approach would be most suitable using the emerging new LEADER Group being set 
up to deliver the Scottish Executive’s ‘On the Ground’ initiative (rather than set up 
yet another Steering Group). 

The Heritage Lottery Fund Response 

4. Following the submission of the ‘Expression of Interest the External Funding Officer 
met with Heritage Lottery Fund staff including the UK Co-ordinator of Landscape 
Partnership Projects. 

5. In principle The Heritage Lottery Fund staff was content with the above as an outline 
proposal. 

6. However they did express serious concerns about the area covered by the 
application. Although it was stressed that whilst a pan-Park approach was preferred 
by the Cairngorms National Park Authority the area covered by any application 
would be confined to the Straths and Glens – ie Strath Don, Strath Spey, Deeside, and 
the Angus Glens. The Heritage Lottery Fund is anxious to target their limited budget 
into as small an areas a possible in order to make a real difference rather than seeing 
it ‘lost’ over a very wide area. 

7. Heritage Lottery Fund staff intimated than an application on the current basis would 
be a “high risk strategy” and strongly advised against such a course of action. For 
comparison the Forest of Wyre Landscape Partnership Project covers an area of 2600 
ha and the Isle of Bute Landscape Partnership Project covers an area of 19000ha. The 
area of the CNP is 380,000 ha and the Straths and Glens alone cover an area roughly 
one sixth of that ie 63,000ha. 

8. One other significant point raised by Heritage Lottery Fund staff regarding the 
Landscape Partnership Project programme was that it was to be streamlined for the 
next round of applications in September. The Heritage Lottery Fund advised that it 
would be sensible for the Cairngorms National Park Authority to apply to the new 
programme which although delaying the application by 6 months would in fact 
result in a similar decision date. A series of workshops is being held over the 
summer and the Heritage Lottery Fund is strongly recommending that any potential 
applicant for a Landscape Partnership Project attends. 

9. The amount of money available is also a real issue. At the last Heritage Lottery Fund 
Trustees’ meeting £15.4M was applied for out of a budget of £9m and some £12-20M 
was waiting in the wings for the next round. Indeed one Stage 1 pass project failed 
to obtain a Stage 2 pass – such was the demand and quality of projects. 

10. Typically the Heritage Lottery Fund allocates some £8M per annum for all 
Landscape Partnership Project schemes in the UK. 

11. HLF guidance as it currently stands would therefore require the Cairngorms 
National Park Authority to look for a part of the park on which to focus. The whole 
philosophy of the Cairngorms National Park Plan is to join up areas, join up 
communities and manage the park as a integrated landscape. In order to arrive at a 
single appropriate scale of landscape would require a considerable amount of work 
to ensure the various parameters were fairly applied. Choosing a major area of 
Caledonian pinewood would seem an appropriate choice. On the other hand one 
might for example choose a degraded landscape for a Landscape Partnership Project 
where the injection of funds would make a real difference both to the landscape but 
also to the community. 

A Development Grant 

12. In order to assist in the decision making process on the above there is, as part of the 
Landscape Partnership Project process, the opportunity to apply for a Development 
Grant of up to £50k over a 6 or 12 month period which may include employing a 
person to undertake the following work: 

a) Building partnerships 
b) Recording the landscape 
c) Assessing the character of the historic landscape 
d) Developing a landscape conservation strategy 
e) Understanding the needs and interest of different groups 
f) Identifying training needs 
g) Preparing specialist reports 


13. The closing date for such an application would be 1st September with a decision 
given by July 2008. 

The Emerging EU Funding Programme 

14. The other aspect to be brought into the equation is the availability of the new EU 
funding streams of the Lowlands and Uplands and the Highlands and Islands ERDF 
Programmes to assist with the implementation which may complement or substitute 
for Heritage Lottery Fund monies. This will be better known in the early autumn but 
early indications are that the Lowlands and Uplands Programme will include 
priorities which address such opportunities as “new tourism products” including 
“wildlife/wilderness tourism and small scale tourism infrastructure”. 

15. Similarly the Highlands and Islands Programme seeks “to maximise the economic 
and social benefits of tourism and the regions environmental and cultural heritage”. 

The Next steps 

16. Thus over the next few months the External Funding Officer will: 

a) Attend the Heritage Lottery Fund workshop on the new Landscape 
Partnership Project; 
b) Pursue the possibility of securing an Landscape Partnership Project 
development grant of £50k; 
c) Clarify the relevance of the incoming EU ERDF Programmes to our National 
Park Plan needs; and 
d) Report back to the Board in September on a proposed way forward. 


Quentin McLaren 
June 2007 

quentinmclaren@cairngorms.co.uk