PETITION UPDATE
Hands around Drumkinnon – show you care and be there
3 JUN 2018 — ON Tuesday 12th June at 7pm, an impromptu show of hands, hands around Drumkinnon, will take place in Balloch to highlight the depth of feeling that locals and visitors alike share about the common spaces of the bay, the woods and the riverside that for generations have been used by families and individuals to walk on, bathe, paddle, moor their boats cheaply, have picnics, improve their mental and physical health, commune with the birds and animals, delight in the abundance of nature…for free, in common use and with complete freedom.
All of this is not only threatened, but guaranteed to be removed from us all – that is the people of Scotland – as a private developer waits in the wings for permission to buy it all up and use with almost carte blanche to do as they please: to build holiday lodges mainly, that will gate off 44 acres of land in state ownership.
This is Scotland for sale at the foot of Loch Lomond. This is a land grab. This is about the most insensitive, grasping and greedy appropriation of the common good you can imagine.
We believe that Balloch needs development to capitalise on the millions who come here, but we also believe they come here to share what we have freely. We believe the spaces we enjoyed since childhood, and the childhoods of our parents and grandparents, are what gives us and our millions of visitors real sharing pleasure.
We believe it is highly inappropriate to build treetop walkways and lodges in ancient woods, we believe it is theft to take access from the riverbank to private hands and lodge building, we believe it is sacrilege to appropriate a sandy bay that children for hundreds of years have spent their summer days at the loch.
We believe we are right to protect this. We believe you will also want to protect these sacred spaces too. For us, for you, and for generations to come.
There are now over 17000 of you. I urge you to share this, as wide as you can, I implore you to come and gently protest with us and share the love of our common spaces and Scotland’s friendliest and most visited village.
Please, this isnt just about us, it is about you and Scotland. It is about whether it is right to sell simply because there is a buyer. It is about whether economics must always dictate what happens to any space, to any ancient lands, to any riverbank, moorings, fishing rights, community spaces.
This is about right and wrong. This is about civic morality.
Join us. Share with us. Stand up for all and for Scotland’s sense of pride and worth. Your hand in ours, your future with us. This is your National Park too.