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CAIRNGORMS LOCAL OUTDOOR ACCESS FORUM 
Paper 2 Election of Convenor 19 August 2008 


CAIRNGORMS LOCAL OUTDOOR ACCESS FORUM 


Title: Election of the Convenor and Vice Convenor 

Prepared by: Fran Pothecary, Outdoor Access Officer 

Purpose: To advise the Forum of the need to elect a new Convenor 
and Vice Convenor in November 2008 


Advice Sought 

1. Forum members to consider who they would like to nominate as Convenor 
and Vice Convenor and submit these suggestions to the Secretariat by 
November 3rd 2008 

Background: 

2. Dick Balharry and Andrew Wells have represented the Forum as Convenor 
and Vice Convenor for the past three years. Dick has indicated his wish to 
stand down as from November and Andrew will be moving onto ‘pastures 
new’ so we need to recruit new Forum members to these posts. 

3. The main attributes of the convenor should be: 

a) The ability to chair the meetings efficiently and timeously; 
b) To give a voice to all interests fairly; 
c) To be able to summarise advice given and aim for consensus in the 
process; 
d) On occasion to attend other meetings as a representative of the 
Forum and 
e) To be well-briefed in the access legislation and the importance and 
context of outdoor access in the Park. 

4. They will need to work closely with VSRG staff and be happy being a 
‘public’ face. The Vice Convenor will need to be comfortable stepping 
into chair meetings in the Convenor’s absence. Both posts will be 
appointed for a period of up to three years. 

5. Forum members are invited to consider whether they would like to stand 
for either of these positions, and if so, to seek a proposer and a seconder. 
Forum members may also approach others (from the membership) who 
they think would be suitable candidates, and would like to support. At 
the moment the procedure for election de-bars an agency 
representative from holding the position of Convenor or Vice Convenor, 
but they may nominate, second and vote. 

6. Last time Dick and Andrew were elected unopposed. If there is a choice 
of candidates there is a process of election based on a secret ballot, 
whereby members present at the meeting have an option to score the 
candidates in order of preference. The Forum will be presented with the 
full details of this process at the next meeting should it be necessary. 


Fran Pothecary 
5 August 2008 
franpothecary@cairngoms.co.uk