A CAMPAIGN against plans to build a resort on the banks of Loch Lomond has reached a major milestone with 50,000 people writing to the Scottish Government demanding it overturn its approval.
More than 50,000 people have written to the Public Finance Minister, Ivan McKee, in just two weeks, demanding that the Scottish Government withdraw its approval for Flamingo Land’s Loch Lomond mega-resort planning application.
In September 2024, the Yorkshire-based theme park operator, Flamingo Land Ltd, had their planning permission in principle rejected by the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs Planning Authority.
However, the decision to reject the £40 million resort plans was overturned by a Scottish Government official last month, when the developers appealed the decision.
The proposal for the resort includes plans for more than 100 holiday lodges, two hotels, a waterpark, a monorail, 372 car parking spaces, shops, and more on the site called Lomond Banks.
According to the Scottish Greens, more than 50,000 people have used a portal on their website to call on the Scottish Government to overturn the decision and scrap the development.
Greens MSP Ross Greer (below) said the public's opinion on the proposal, which is the most opposed in Scottish planning history with more than 155,000 individuals lodging objections, “couldn’t be clearer”.
He said: “The Scottish Government has got this badly wrong. They are about to allow a greedy developer to trash the gateway to our National Park. It is not too late for a U-turn though. They can still save Loch Lomond.
“In just two weeks the Planning Minister has heard directly from over 50,000 people calling on him to block these proposals. Public opinion couldn't be clearer and it is backed up by experts including the Government’s own environment watchdog.
“I have campaigned side by side with local residents in Balloch for nearly ten years now to stop Flamingo Land. At every stage we have won on the basis of the overwhelming evidence against their plans, but that has all now been overturned by the Scottish Government.”
Organisations such as the National Trust for Scotland, the Woodland Trust, the Ramblers, and the Scottish Government environment watchdog, SEPA, also raised objections against the plans.
Greer added: “I do not understand why the Scottish Government are determined to cosy up to greedy theme park operators rather than protect Scotland’s world famous natural heritage.
“It’s time for Government Ministers to actually listen to the people of Scotland and save Loch Lomond.”
The news comes after Scottish ministers refused planning permission for a trotting track for harness racing on the historic Bannockburn battlefield site.
The Scottish Government ruled that the proposals would “introduce new development and urbanisation in one of the few remaining undeveloped parts of the battlefield”.
As such, it ruled the development “would have a significant adverse effect on the character of the battlefield, its setting and sense of place”.
The site is where in June 1314 Robert the Bruce and his Scottish army famously defeated English troops led by King Edward II.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “An independent reporter has issued a decision intimating that he is minded to grant planning permission in principle for the proposal subject to 49 planning conditions subject to a legal agreement being reached between the national park authority and developer to secure the employment and environment issues that are set out in the Lomond Promise.
“As the appeal remains live, it would not be appropriate to comment further on the merits of the proposed development.”
