Balloch and Haldane Community Council officially oppose Flamingo Land plans

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Balloch’s community council has officially lodged their opposition to Flamingo Land’s plans for a new tourism development in the village, saying the uncertainty has dragged on for long enough.A survey of residents in 2022 by Balloch and Haldane Community Council showed that almost three-quarters were against the £40m Lomond Banks development on land near West Riverside.However despite this the council at the time gave their backing to the plans, before disbanding soon after saying they received hate mail because of the decision.Last week the newly reformed CC reversed the decision, saying that residents have lived with concerns for almost a decade - and that enough was enough.But they stressed that they weren’t against any development on the site, just not one on the scale of Flamingo Land’s plans.

The The CC added they would be calling on Scottish Enterprise to end an exclusivity agreement the developers have on the land, which has been in place since 2016.Lynne Sommerville, chair of the CC, told the Lennox: “It’s really important that we re-align the voice of the people with the council itself.

It’s important that it’s known that we are the voice of the public.“We don’t want to deter inward investment. We want to attract new facilities, innovative ideas and drive employment.

But we want to do it in the right way.“It’s so important that people stand up as a community to have their views heard.“If people hadn’t stood up and said no to the plans to scale back the Vale of Leven Hospital then it would possibly be gone or completely scaled down.