Loch Lomondside pictured by Graeme Mccormick from the site earmarked for Flamingo Land.
By Loch Lomondside resident Graeme Mccormick
This area is earmarked for Flamingo Land, enjoyed by many people daily as it is just now.
there is a much bigger issue here. Tourism has to be managed. Places like Luss, Skye , NC500, are really becoming unpleasant to live. In Europe locals are taking direct action.
I wonder about the economic case for large tourist developments. The business case for Loch Lomond Shores always looked dodgy to me, yet it survived because of initial public investment and probably a feeling that it couldn’t be allowed to fail.
The countries with the best quality of life don’t depend on tourism as the main source of their economy. The Nordics, Switzerland, Ireland and Austria all have successful and high profile tourist industries but when you look behind what drives their economies tourism is not the main contributor.
We probably need a national and regional conversation on managing tourism and what should drive our local economies.
Very valid point that countries with the best quality of life don’t depend on tourism as their main source of income.
As for the need for regional and national conversation this is what democracy is supposed to be.
The proposed Flamingo Land land give away and commercial development is a stark example of there being no democracy, no conversation.
Money talks, and citizens suck, that is the reality.
And in the particular example of Flamingo Land this brings into sharp focus and public view just how profoundly undemocratic National Parks are.
And recently, very recently, the Scottish Government were trying to encourage more National Parks all over Scotland.
Together with the Freeport Zones or more properly described as Special Economic Areas where citizen conversation and democracy is extinguished, folks really do need to recognise the reality around them.