Flamingo Land refuse to take No for an answer to their planning application for Balloch.
By Bill Heaney
The Scottish Government must reject the appeal lodged this evening by Flamingo Land for their failed mega-resort application on the banks of Loch Lomond, say the Scottish Greens.
The application for a resort on the southern shore of Loch Lomond at Balloch was objected to by over 155,000 individuals in a long-running campaign led by Scottish Green MSP Ross Greer, as well as by the Woodland Trust, Ramblers Scotland, the National Trust for Scotland and environmental watchdog SEPA.
In September of this year it was unanimously rejected by the board of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park after their own expert planning officers joined the calls to oppose it on the basis of flood risk and damage to the natural environment.
Flamingo Land’s plans included two hotels, a waterpark, one hundred woodland lodges, over 370 parking spaces, a monorail, shops, restaurants and more on the proposed site at Balloch. This would have seen over 250 additional car journeys per hour on local roads at peak times.
The Scottish Government’s enterprise agency confirmed to Mr Greer, pictured left, this morning that it has extended Flamingo Land’s contract for the site, to facilitate an appeal. This agreement gives the developer the exclusive right to buy the land, if they receive planning permission.
This is Flamingo Land’s second application, the first having been withdrawn in 2019 after an unprecedented level of opposition and a similar recommendation from the Park’s planning officers that it be rejected by their board. Local opposition to Flamingo Land in Balloch has grown over the decade in which they have attempted to force their mega-resort plans through.
Mr Greer said: “This is desperate behaviour from a greedy company who refuse to accept that their absurd plans are not welcome at Loch Lomond. The Scottish Government must listen to the community and the experts, reject this appeal and protect a world famous Scottish landscape.
“It is frustrating that their appeal has been enabled by the exclusive government contract I urged the First Minister to end back in September. Frankly, it should never have been renewed after their first failed bid in 2019. This saga has gone on for years longer than it needed to.
“Our campaign to save Loch Lomond from Flamingo Land’s destructive proposals secured a record 155,000 objections. The National Park’s own planning officers even agreed that it must be rejected, as did Scotland’s national environment watchdog, SEPA.
“It really is a nightmare before Christmas to hear that this greedy developer just won’t take no for an answer.
“Flamingo Land has spent a decade trying to force a mega-resort on the area, and we have spent a decade fighting to stop them. If they think they can just exhaust the community and our supporters across Scotland, they are mistaken. 2025 must be the year this nonsense ends.”
So why is the property developer Flamingo Land so insanely keen to get the land at Balloch.
I don’t think anyone needs to ask that. It’s the giveaway of the century with anecdotal comment in the know confirming that the price to be paid is chicken feed. The price of a good car in fact.
But the price ifor the sale of some 36 acres of prime iconic land is a secret. Commercial in confidence is the official line.
Something to hide. You bet. A Thatcher style privatisation perchance. You don’t need to think to hard.
There’s hundreds of millions to be made in development and once the lands gone, well it’s gone.
Filing one’s boots is the oft used expression.
Something is very rotten here. Very rotten. Money talks.