Dumbarton constituency MSP Jackie Baillie has made a last ditch call for the Scottish Government to heed the views of local residents as it rules on the future of the Lomond Banks planning application.
The MSP issued the warning as news broke that the Scottish Government’s Planning Reporter, David Bullya, had submitted his revised report to Ministers for a final decision on the application.
And the decision on the controversial proposal is likely to come into the public domain in the next few days.
Dame Jackie says the SNP finally bowed to public and political pressure and called in the decision for Ministerial Review in June.
That came in the wake of Mr Bullya’s earlier decision to greenlight the controversial £43.5 million Balloch development.
According to a media release today, the Scottish Government had faced defeat in the Scottish Parliament which is why it called in the decision for Ministerial scrutiny on the eve of a debate on the issue, which will be led by Jackie Baillie, also Scottish Labour’s Deputy Leader.
We are told Dame Jackie was set to urge the Scottish Government to scrutinise the decision and had attracted cross-party support.
The Dumbarton MSP, who attended a stormy community meeting in the wake of the planning Reporter’s decision in June, urged the Scottish Government to take note of the views expressed.
She said: “I would urge the Scottish Government to listen to the views of local residents in respect of this development.
“Not only were real concerns raised by the people who live in the area and stand to be most affected by this, but also by many of the government’s own agencies involved.
“Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority rejected this development and SEPA – the Scottish Government’s own environmental advisory agency – also objected due to flooding concerns.
“All of these people cannot be wrong and I would ask the Scottish Government to take these views into account.
“It is clear that this is the wrong development in the wrong place.”
The MSP, right, had earlier accused the Scottish Government of treating the local community “with disdain”.
The Scottish Government had resisted calling in the decision for ministerial scrutiny, until the eve of the parliamentary debate, before hat she called “performing a spectacular u-turn”.
Theme park operator Flamingo Land wants to build a resort including hotels, holiday lodges, restaurants, leisure pool and a monorail, on a site at Balloch.