Anyone, no matter who they are, where they come from, what their beliefs or their needs are, should be able to visit and enjoy the Cairngorms National Park. We recognise that a continued focus on equalities is imperative, particularly at the current time, following a global pandemic and in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis that has exacerbated inequalities in our society.

We have also recognised in the last few years the need to engage more proactively with external equalities experts. To this end we reconstituted our Equalities Advisory Panel in 2020, bringing together experts from across the public, private and third sector to provide evidence-based feedback, guidance and advice, grounded wherever possible in lived experience.

Residents of the National Park should have opportunities to benefit from living in a spectacular natural environment with a strong sense of community. There is also a need to provide targeted support across the National Park to ensure that programmes and projects contribute to reducing inequalities for residents and visitors alike.

Finally, we also need to ensure that a wider range of people are involved in, benefit from and support activities that protect and enhance nature and tackle climate change in the National Park. Tackling the climate emergency and nature crisis can only be done by taking people with us: local communities, workers in the rural economy, visitors, under-represented groups and so on.