ALMOST 125,000 people have lodged an objection to Flamingo Land’s plans to develop on the banks of Loch Lomond – a jump of more than 25,000 in just two days.
The numbers come from a petition against the £40 million proposals – which include more than 100 holiday lodges, a hotel, waterpark, and monorail – being run by the Scottish Greens.
On Tuesday morning, there were some 97,000 signatories to the petition. However, that has skyrocketed by more than 26,000 after the date for a decision on the Flamingo Land application was set for September 16.
After a public meeting and site visit on that day, a decision will ultimately be taken by Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority board members.
Scottish Green MSP Ross Greer, who represents West Scotland and has led the party’s “Save Loch Lomond”, called for the park officials to reject the proposed development.
Greer said: “This is the second time Flamingo Land has tried to build their destructive mega-resort at Loch Lomond. Their first application quickly became the most objected to planning application in Scottish history. Now their second attempt has doubled that record.
“Despite the unprecedented scale of opposition – and their own promise to walk away if Balloch residents didn’t support them – Flamingo Land has refused to listen to the will of the community.
"The National Park’s board must now stand up for Loch Lomond and the residents of Balloch and deliver an unequivocal rejection to this greedy corporate profiteering.”
The first application was withdrawn amid fierce opposition in 2019, with a renewed application being submitted to the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority in May 2022.
Jim Paterson, the development director of the project, has previously hit out at Greer and the Greens, claiming they are “more interested in clickbait politics … than having a constructive dialogue about what could be a major investment into both the local economy in Balloch and Scotland as a whole”.
“[Greer] has relentlessly tried to interfere with a statutory planning process that doesn’t sit within his jurisdiction and – in a shameless attempt to get people to click his online petition – the majority of the claims he has made about our proposals are utterly false,” Paterson said.
“There is simply no way to validate the numbers he is quoting and who the people who clicked his sham petition are or where they live.”
As an MSP for West Scotland, the proposed Flamingo Land development does fall entirely within Greer’s region.
According to the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority “any individual, group or organisation can make comments of objection or support for a planning application while it is open for consultation”.
The National Trust for Scotland, Forestry Scotland and Ramblers Scotland have also voiced their objection to the plans.
Locals in Balloch told The National that they support some aspects of the development, such as renovation of the ruined Woodbank House, but oppose others, such as the widely panned monorail.
