A community council’s decision to back a £40million Balloch tourist resort – despite only 25 percent of people supporting it – has been labelled “scandalous”.
Balloch and Haldane Community Council (BHCC) has announced its support for Flamingo Land’s Loch Lomond plans.
In a social media post, they said they had distributed 3,000 surveys to gather opinions but felt the outcome was not a true representative of the local picture as only 10 percent of residents voted.
The post attracted an angry response, with Councillor Jim Bollan saying the decision was “undemocratic” and describing BHCC “out of touch”.
The post read: “BHCC distributed 3,000 surveys to every household in our area, we received 410 responses, 103 in favour of, 305 against and two void, this equated to 25 percent in favour of, 74 percent against and one percent void.
“We did not feel this was a true local representation of the community as only 10 percent of households had voted against.
“BHCC have therefore made the decision to support the application having taken into consideration the local plan which was agreed by the park-wide community and statutory bodies that the area concerned be zoned for visitor experience, however, this is not to say that BHCC will not object to the scale of the development as further planning applications are made for the finer details.”
Councillor Bollan said: “The anti-democratic decision of the BHCC to go against the 74 percent of residents who voted against the Flamingo land application in their own survey, and vote to approve the application, is scandalous.
“BHCC are so out of touch with local residents regarding this matter and should review and reconsider their decision to reflect the broad views of local residents, which is clearly one of opposition to Flamingo lands application.”
One Facebook user responded: “You are supposed to represent the community, and the poll returns 74 percent against, and you decide on for? There is no logic here!”
MSP Jackie Baillie shared a survey with BHCC where 66 percent voted against the plans, she said: “Even those that supported it raised significant concerns about road capacity and local employment.”
BHCC Chair Murdoch Cameron said: ”We made the decision on what we felt were the best interests of the community, jobs and that this land has been zoned for visitor experience.”
