By Bill Heaney
A major row has broken out over Heather (The Weather) Reid’s chairmanship of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority.
Embarrassingly, it began to boil over yesterday (Wednesday) after long-awaited details were announced of a site visit, public hearing and board meeting to determine the planning application for Flamingo Land.
Flamingo Land didn’t get a mention by name in the media release which said the application concerned “a major development at West Riverside and Woodbank House, pictured left, in Balloch (known as Lomond Banks) will take place on Monday 16th September. This will be held in public.”
It added: “Members of Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park Authority Board agreed today that the decision on the application will be taken by the Board on that date, following a site visit and public hearing.
“Given the high level of public interest in the application, careful consideration is being given to the arrangements for the hearing, which will be held at a suitable venue locally in Balloch. Further details will be published on the National Park Authority website in advance.”
And quoted an anonymous spokesperson for the National Park Authority as saying: “This application has not yet been decided. No position has yet been taken in support of or against this planning application. However, with high levels of public interest, we felt it would be useful to set out as early as possible the process for taking a decision.
“Officers now have all the information required to assess the application and that assessment will continue between now and September. All submitted documents, consultee responses and representations from the public are being considered as part of the assessment.
“Once the assessment phase has concluded, a report will be published that includes a recommendation to board members that they either approve or refuse the application. That report will be published on the National Park Authority website in early September, in advance of the board meeting.
“Once the report has been published, those who have submitted formal comments on the application will be notified and given details on how they can request to speak at the public hearing.”
The media release added: “More detailed information on the precise timings of these steps will be published closer to the time of the hearing and Special Board Meeting.
“The National Park Authority is the statutory planning authority for the National Park area.
“Under planning law, a planning authority must process and consider the planning applications it receives. It is then the duty of the planning authority to make an objective assessment of the proposal and to make a decision on whether to approve or refuse the application.”
Local people who are deeply concerned that the application will not be conducted in an open, honest and transparent manner.
And they are pointing to the way the last meeting of the Park board was conducted on July 10 by Heather Reid, the former BBC Scotland weather forecaster.
One member of the public, Caroline Garvey, whose father, Harry, was a life-long fisherman on Loch Lomond, wrote to The Dumbarton Democrat about what she called “the shenanigans” of the LLTNP and the lack of transparency on this matter, including their refusal to release the video of the meeting at which Heather Reid clashed with Balloch board member Sid Perry, pictured right.
She wrote that she and her friend Andrea Middleton attended that meeting “and were appalled by what transpired during it”.
Caroline added: “The chair’s [Heather Reid’s] attitude towards Mr Perry was disdainful to say the lease and at points was downright rude. Every time he tried to raise a point on the discussion he was shut down and not allowed to talk, at one point being threatened with ‘if you carry on I will have to ask you to leave.
“She was very condescending and at times showed anger towards Mr Perry, talked over him to the point that we were writing notes to each other about how badly he was being treated and how uncomfortable it was to watch.
“As we were told we could not take part or have a say at the meeting we sat quietly at the back of the room and watched the proceedings.”
Later Ms Garvey told me: “I am appalled by what is going on here. My father, Harry, was like so many local men a fisherman on the loch. He loved Loch Lomond and treasured the fact that it was on our doorstep and he fished there for many years. He would hate to see what is happening now, that these people have come along and started to cherry pick it to make a fortune for themselves out of a place that really belongs to all of us here. It would be a scandal if this was allowed to go ahead.”
Journalists have been told the planning application can be viewed on the public planning portal under application ref. 2022/0157/PPP) and that a site visit is standard procedure for major planning applications.
“A site visit provides the best opportunity for board members to fully understand the context and characteristics of the site and how the development proposals relate to these.”
The briefing note says that media arrangements for the public hearing are currently being decided and they have been warned that “no photography or recording of any type will be permitted at either the site visit, public hearing or determination meeting”.
It would appear that the Park Authority has arrogated to itself the powers of a court of law, although even the courts allow photography during site visits and did during a recent murder trial in the High Court at Glasgow.
Further briefing is that this application is for Planning Permission in Principle – “For applications of this type, if approved, a further detailed application would require to be submitted and approved before any development could start.”
It added: “An earlier planning application for this site was withdrawn by the applicant following publication of a National Park Authority planning report recommending that the National Park Authority Board refuse the application.”
Folks should just take pictures of the site and record meetings
Who are, and by what right do these people on the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park think they are. What can they do to stop people doing what they are entitled to do.
Nothing, absolutely nothing, and folks should make it their business to assert their rights.
Time the kid gloves came off in being bullied by these quango no bodies