The Scottish Green party have launched an objection against a fresh application which would see a Flamingo Land resort built at Loch Lomond.
This is the second attempt by the company behind Flamingo Land to build a £40million leisure development with the potential to destroy ancient Scottish woodland, a site of natural beauty and precious habitats for animals.
Revised plans for the West Riverside and Woodbank House sites in Balloch – which it has named ‘Lomond Banks’ – were lodged with National Park officials last month.
The resubmission came after the original plans were withdrawn in 2018 following 60,000 objections.
The new plans include 127 woodland lodges, a water park, hotel, monorail and much more on mainly publicly owned land on the shore of Loch Lomond.
The Scottish Greens petition said: “Flamingo Land are back. Over two years since they were forced to withdraw their application as a result of our campaign, the Yorkshire-based theme park operator have submitted new plans for a ‘tourist resort’ on the shores of Loch Lomond at Balloch.
“With your help, we can stop this – lodge an objection to their plans today.
“Once again, their aim is to build a ‘resort’ on a massive scale, with 126 woodland lodges, water park, hotels, monorail and much more.
“This is far larger than the National Park’s Local Development Plan allows. It will add even more traffic to an existing congestion hot-spot, and turn open greenspace – popular with locals and visitors alike – into a branded holiday park.
How very human, take a perfect location, and ruin it.#SaveLochLomond https://t.co/tkfcUrUlLB
— Helen (@Hells4Heroes) July 22, 2022
“While our campaign has been successful in saving most of the ancient woodland on site, there’s still nearly half a hectare (two-thirds of the size of the pitch at Hampden Park) of ancient woodland that will be destroyed.
“Planning permission being granted will result in all of the ancient woodland being sold to Flamingo Land, so there is no guarantee it will be safe in the long term.
“Loch Lomond is world famous for its natural beauty. We must do all we can to preserve it.”
The Woodland Trust and Scottish Ramblers have also lodged complaints, as well as many locals voicing their frustration on Twitter, with the hashtag #savelochlomond trending on Friday.
Taking away incredible natural landscapes including an ancient forest aren't acceptable. We encourage people to sign this objection to once again stop what is a bad project in this location from destroying our natural environment.#SaveLochLomond 🌳🏴 https://t.co/cUZU2KyCpk
— Team Shazoo (@TeamShazoo) July 22, 2022
In June, James Paterson, Lomond Banks’ development director, said: “Our intention is to create a tourism and leisure resort that families can come and enjoy as part of their Loch Lomond/Balloch experience, not exclusively so.
“With this in mind, we wholly appreciate that ensuring access to the area is paramount to creating those strong links with the local community.
“These plans are within a location that for a long time has been designated for such a development, and we believe we have struck the right balance between bringing strong economic growth and employment opportunities to the area, being ecologically sensitive to the natural surroundings and ensuring Lomond Banks is something that everyone will be able to enjoy.
“We have consulted within the local community extensively over the last 12 months and have welcomed a lot of support for the plans, in particular around our accessibility pledge.”
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