The Scottish Green Party has claimed that plans for a holiday park on the shores of Loch Lomond could be in trouble, after national park bosses requested answers on 16 areas of concern.
Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park Authority queried several points in the planning application from Flamingo Land contractors Stantec.
Among the issues raised are the lack of a detailed Environmental Impact Assessment, clear information on the potential impact on ancient woods and water quality, and figures on how much more traffic would be added to local roads.
More than half of the demands appear to be based on concerns raised in an objection lodged by Scottish Green MSP Ross Greer and written by planning lawyer Ian Cowan.
The application will now require resubmission of a number of key documents.
Flamingo Land re-applied for planning permission for two hotels, 127 holiday lodges, a waterpark, monorail and landscaping changes in Balloch earlier this year. The plans have drawn more than 33,000 objections so far, including from the National Trust, Woodland Trust and Ramblers Scotland.
The theme park operator’s previous application was withdrawn in 2019 after a record 60,000 objections were lodged and park officials recommended to their board that it be rejected.
Greer, who previously warned he would consider a judicial review if application flaws were not rectified, stated: “This is a massive rebuke to Flamingo Land and hopefully signals the death knell for their preposterous and damaging plans.
“For developers to fail to clearly provide one important piece of information would be careless, but the fact that the national park has made 16 requests shows how much of a shambles we’re dealing with here.
“Flamingo Land have failed to provide precise information on the risk to ancient woodland, nature and water quality, they haven’t even confirmed a clear number of parking places or whether those car parks will result in further loss of woodland, they can’t even say how many car journeys their plans would generate, so we don’t know the climate or traffic impacts.
“Even in the extremely unlikely event that Flamingo Land is able to provide satisfactory answers to these questions, the development would still be a disaster - it would be a scar on the shore of Loch Lomond and would come at a great cost to the local community.
“Recent community surveys have shown that residents oppose these plans by a margin of three to one,“ he continued, adding: “Flamingo Land’s boss promised years ago that if the community weren’t behind them, they would walk away - not only are the people of Balloch clearly ready to see the back of them, it now appears that they’re losing the confidence of the park authority as well.”
However, a recent statement from the developers said the request for amends was a step forward it the plans for a £40m tourism destination at West Riverside and Woodbank House in Balloch.
Lomond Banks stated that its team would review the requests and consider its response, calling this common practice during the course of a major planning application.
Jim Paterson, development director for Lomond Banks, said: “Our commitment to shaping our plans around community and stakeholder feedback has been paramount throughout this application journey, so this feedback from the national park is hugely valuable in aiding us to edit our plans further to fit the vision of the community, businesses, and the planning authority alike.
“We are steadfast in our plans for Lomond Banks, and we truly believe we can deliver something that Balloch and the wider area can greatly benefit from.
“We will now consider the further questions and requests and get to work on how best to respond to these in the coming weeks - we look forward to engaging in this process further and, working with our experts and partners, delivering on what has been asked of us.
“Likewise, the national park has also asked us to make assurances around the location of the John Muir Way, which we will be happy to confirm,“ he continued, adding: “Providing access to such routes of national significance continues to be of vital importance to us all and we have maintained a strong position around this from the outset.”
Responding to Greer's comments today, Paterson stated: “This is yet another attempt to interfere in a legitimate planning process by using inflammatory language and presenting misinformation as fact.
“Of course, it is not for Ross Greer to decide on the merits of this planning application, this decision continues to sit with the planning authority and the statutory consultees.”
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