The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 gives a range of duties and powers to access authorities (local authorities and National Parks), including to uphold and facilitate access rights, and to plan a system of core paths to give the public reasonable access throughout their areas.
In order to monitor progress and expenditure on these additional responsibilities, the Scottish Government has established a monitoring regime to collect information from all access authorities on their progress and expenditure. The data received is compiled into a database for analysis, and to give information at a national level.
The questions in the monitoring regime are divided into three sections, relating to general questions about access functions, the use of statutory powers, and expenditure. Data from the first eight rounds of monitoring, which cover activity between the commencement of the Act on February 9, 2005 to March 31, 2011, is now available. The full report is below. You can also access a summary of the monitoring report