A GREEN MSP who has been a vocal opposer of plans for a holiday resort in Loch Lomond believes a new government policy should spell the end for the bid.
Ross Greer outlined how the Scottish Government’s new planning policy should rule out any chance of Flamingo Land’s controversial development plans getting the go-ahead.
The National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) was developed with significant input from the Scottish Greens after the party joined the Scottish Government in autumn 2021.
It has now been approved by the Scottish Parliament and must be used to guide planning decisions by local councils and National Parks.
The new framework makes it much harder for environmentally damaging projects to be granted planning permission and Mr Greer feels it's times up for the Lomond Banks proposals.
He said: “Flamingo Land’s plans to impose a huge tourist development on Balloch have always been a terrible idea, and thanks to Green action in Government we now have a national planning policy which gives the National Park the power to confidently reject the application.
"A holiday park with hotels, woodland lodges and 372 more parking spaces is obviously not what we need when we’re facing a climate emergency and when local roads are already struggling.”
The West of Scotland MSP advised 70,000 people had now lodged their objections and that there was still time for others to do the same.
The blueprint for the massive holiday complex to be built on the banks of the loch includes a 60-bedroom hotel, a water park, a monorail, more than 100 lodges, a watersports hub, restaurants, a craft brewery and pub and external activity areas for events.
While developers are no longer proposing to build on the ancient woodland at Drumkinnon Wood, the updated plans would still see development on a huge scale.
In addition to leading a campaign that has seen over 70,000 objections to Flamingo Land’s plans, Mr Greer also appointed environmental law expert Ian Cowan to draft a detailed objection on his behalf.
Following NPF4’s approval by Parliament, Mr Greer and Mr Cowan lodged a supplementary objection which compared the plans to the new framework and concluded that they failed to comply in a number of ways.
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