Plans for the multi-million pound Flamingo Land resort have recently been put on ice
The Scottish Sun is reporting exclusively today that shamed ex-SNP minister Derek Mackay has been working with the company behind the controversial Flamingo Land development.
Mackay disappeared from Holyrood in February 2020 after The Scottish Sun revealed he had been pestering a 16-year-old schoolboy with creepy text messages.
And he left the SNP Deputy First Minister behind with the task of delivering the budget for the then First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s government.
Mackay was also up to his political neck in the disastrous island ferries contract which hascost taxpayers a fortune.
The Scottish Sun says it has now been revealed by the Daily Record that the former minister had been advising on the plans for the multi-million resort on the banks of Loch Lomond.
Flamingo Land proposals include a waterpark, monorail, more than 100 lodges, and a waterpark in Balloch.
The controversial project has divided opinion, and the national park authority rejected plans last year.
However, last month the Scottish Government overturned a refusal decision, but the development was recently stalled over “environmental concerns”.
Speaking about the former politician’s involvement, a spokeswoman told the Daily Record that Lomond Banks “works with a range of specialists and advisers”.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government has had no contact from Derek Mackay on this.”
Labour MSP Jackie Baillie said: “It is extraordinary that Lomond Banks appears to have employed Derek Mackay as a consultant.
“As a former SNP planning minister, questions need to be asked about whether he used his old party contacts to influence the outcome of this planning application.”
Mackay left the SNP in March 2021 after The Scottish Sun revealed he had bombarded a schoolboy with 270 online messages.
In the sleazy messages Mr Mackay called the lad “cute” and invited him out for dinner, six months after contacting him out of the blue.
In February, he set up Lochan Associates Ltd, which Companies House says offers “management consultancy activities other than financial management”.
Plans for the multi-million pound Flamingo Land resort have recently been put on hold.
This comes days after the Scottish Green Party claimed more than 50,000 people have written to the SNP ministers demanding that the controversial theme park be scrapped.
Their MSP Ross Greer said Planning Minister Ivan McKee must “listen to the public”.
Scottish Greens MSP Ross Greer, left, said: “Flamingo Land should be open and honest about everyone advising them. That’s especially true when it’s former Scottish Government Ministers who were responsible for the agency which owns the land and which chose them as the preferred developer in the first place.
“The Scottish Government could have ended this saga in 2019 when Derek Mackay was Economy Secretary and Flamingo Land’s first application failed, but instead they extended the theme park operator’s exclusive contract for the site.
“Time and again the Government has stuck with Flamingo Land rather than hold up their hands, recognise their mistakes and support more suitable proposals for Balloch.
“The strength of our campaign has forced them to recall this latest application, meaning that Ministers now have the opportunity to end this sorry saga. I hope they’ll learn from past mistakes, listen to the public rather than a greedy corporation and save Loch Lomond.”