Loch Lomond flood risk and extra car every 14 seconds sinks Flamingo Land plan
Scottish Green MSP Ross Greer has slammed the company behind a controversial mega-resort planned for Loch Lomond after it was revealed that they intend to ignore warnings of flooding risk issued by Scotland’s environmental watchdog.
Mr Greer has branded Flamingo Land bosses ‘grossly irresponsible’ and demanded that their plans are rejected by the National Park Authority as soon as possible.
Flamingo Land have spent almost a decade attempting to build a huge development on the banks of Loch Lomond at Balloch, including 104 woodland lodges, two hotels, a water park, monorail and much more, all requiring 372 additional car parking spaces at one of the most congested spots on Loch Lomond.
Their latest plans have already drawn a record 84,000 objections, including one from environmental watchdog the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, who demanded that changes were made to remove lodges from part of the site designated as a flood plain. This was a result of a new Scottish Government planning policy (National Planning Framework 4) which rules out new developments in areas at risk of flooding.
The latest documents submitted by Flamingo Land to the National Park Authority include the developers’ response to SEPA. They claim that their plans are covered by an exception in NPF4 because the site is “previously used”, pointing to the fact that, until 1986, there had been a railway on that part of the site.
One notable change in Flamingo Land’s plans is a revised estimate of the extra traffic which would be generated if the development went ahead. They had previously suggested that there would be an increase of 158 additional journeys (arrivals and departures) during the peak hour of 5.30-6.30pm, but new documents admit that an anticipated uplift of 253 additional vehicles is far more accurate, equivalent to around one every 14 seconds.
The increase in traffic generated, as well as the decision to challenge flooding protections combine to provide more evidence that Flamingo Land’s plans would be hugely damaging to the climate, local environment and residents of Balloch, Greer has said.
The submission of these documents does now mean that a public hearing on the plans can finally be held by Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority, whose board will then vote to accept or reject the development. As the company withdrew their previous proposals at the last moment in 2019 to avoid almost certain rejection, this will be the first time that the mega-resort proposal will be considered by the Park Authority in public.
Mr Greer, who has led the campaign against Flamingo Land since his election in 2016, said: “Flamingo Land’s arrogant dismissal of SEPA’s flood warnings just shows how grossly irresponsible this company is. They are not fit to take over one of the most important spots on the shores of Loch Lomond.
“They’ve had every opportunity to scale back their plans, to address the flood risk and the concern of local residents, but they are far more interested in squeezing out every last penny of profit from the Loch.
"Balloch does not want or need over a hundred woodland lodged and almost four hundred parking spaces, never mind a waterpark, hotel and monorail scarring one of Scotland’s most iconic landscapes.
“These plans go against national and local planning policy on just about every conceivable level, which should make it easy for the National Park’s board to reject them and end the near-decade of stress and anxiety faced by local residents.
“Instead of choosing to avoid building on a flood plain, Flamingo Land has decided to argue words and definitions with our national environmental watchdog. The fact that this part of the site had a railway on it 40 years ago will be irrelevant when it's underwater.
“And the revelation that there will be more than 250 extra cars on the road at peak hours should ring alarm bells for anyone already familiar with the problems on the A82. Their offer of a £115,000 contribution towards tweaking a roundabout will make absolutely no difference in the face of that much extra traffic.
“We’re now truly in the final stretch of this campaign. Anyone who has not yet joined the 84,000 people who’ve objected can easily do so via my website at www.Greens.scot/FlamingoLand.”
