The Scottish Government

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Introduction

1. Under the National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000 (the Act), an individual National Park (and its associated National Park Authority) may be established by means of a designation order approved by the Scottish Parliament. The Act also gives the Scottish Ministers powers to modify a designation order.

2. The Scottish Ministers propose to modify the Cairngorms National Park Designation, Transitional and Consequential Provisions (Scotland) Order 2003 (the Designation Order) so as to reduce the size of its membership to take account of the recommendations of the National Parks Review and to make a technical change to delegation arrangements for the exercise of planning functions.

3. This document is to be treated as a National Park proposal; it concerns the modification of the above Designation Order. Scottish Ministers have already decided to extend the southern boundary of the Cairngorms National Park to include part of Perth and Kinross: a report on the boundary was prepared by SNH and published in January 2009. The modifying Order will deal with both the extension of the National Park into Perth and Kinross and the reduction in the number of members.

Legislative Background

4. This proposal is issued under section 30(3) of the Act. Section 4 of the Act applies in relation to this proposal.

Proposals

Constitution of the Authority

5. In August 2009 the Scottish Government published a Consultation Report following consultation on the recommendations from the National Parks Review. In this report, the Scottish Ministers have indicated their intention to reduce the number of members of the Cairngorms National Park Authority from 25 to 19, whilst still retaining a mix of the 3 types of member (ie Ministerial appointees, Local Authority nominees and directly elected members). The proposal is therefore to modify the Designation Order to specify that:

a) there shall be 19 members of the authority

b) 4 members of the authority are to be appointed as local members

(The Act details who may be appointed as a local member and requires that at least one fifth of the total number of members should be appointed as such. A person may only be appointed by Scottish Ministers as a local member if a) their sole or main residence is within the National Park; or b) they are a councillor for an electoral ward or a member of a community council any part of whose area is within the National Park. Please note both Ministerial appointees and Local Authority nominees are appointed by Scottish Ministers; either can be appointed as local members.)

c) the nominated members shall be nominated as follows:

• two members (including one local member) to be nominated by the Highland council
• two members (including one local member) to be nominated by Aberdeenshire Council
• one member nominated by Moray Council
• one member nominated by Angus Council
• one member nominated by Perth & Kinross Council.

Planning Functions : Delegation

6. The proposal is to modify the Designation Order so that delegation of the specific planning functions exercisable by the Cairngorms National Park Authority is restated with the effect that it can be dealt with by the Authority in a number of ways.

Reason for modification

Constitution of the Authority

7. The reduction in the number of members of the National Park Authority was recommended in the National Parks Review. Whilst there were clear benefits in the National Park Authorities having large boards when they were first set up, the Review found the Park Authorities were now well established and their strategic directions had been set in the National Park Plans. As such, the Review recommended there was a case for reducing board size to support effective governance, and streamline decision making, whilst still retaining a mix of Ministerial appointees, Local Authority nominees and directly elected members. A majority of respondents to the public consultation agreed that the number of National Park Authority members should be reduced.

8 The Scottish Ministers have therefore decided to reduce the number of members on the Cairngorms National Park Authority to 19. The basis for reducing this number is set out in the National Parks Review Consultation Report:

• the two larger local authorities (Highland and Aberdeenshire) to be invited to make 2 nominations;
• other local authorities to be invited to make one nomination;
• the number of Ministerial appointees to be the same as the total number of local authority nominees;
• the number of directly elected members to remain unchanged (although they will make up a larger proportion of a smaller board). Whilst there will be no change to the number of directly elected members, the inclusion of part of Perth and Kinross within the Cairngorms National Park will require a change to the electoral arrangements and the Electoral Order. The proposal is to include the additional electors (c 750) within Ward One.

Planning Functions: Delegation

9. The reason for modifying is to achieve, so far as is possible given the specific planning functions of the Cairngorms National Park Authority, consistency as between it, the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority and local authorities in the way in which the Authority decides to delegate planning functions. This reflects the recent planning reforms in which delegation will contribute to more efficient decision making.

Consultation

10. The National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000 requires this Proposal to be made available for public inspection by the local authorities whose area is within the area to which the Proposal relates. The Act also requires Scottish Ministers to consult on the Proposal.

Comments on the Proposal should be sent by 18 January 2010 to:

Nationalparks@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Or by mail to:

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