The dust may finally be settling on the decade-long saga of Flamingo Land and Loch Lomond, but uncertainty remains over planning issues in Scotland’s first national park – prompting calls for a new law.
The plans for a £43m tourism resort at Balloch were unanimously rejected by board members at Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park after more than 100,000 people lodged objections. But developers behind the Lomond Banks project immediately lodged an appeal, which was upheld by a Scottish Government-appointed Reporter.
Facing a public backlash and probable defeat in a vote on the issue at Holyrood, ministers ‘called in’ the plan and in February finally announced that it had been rejected after ‘a finely balanced decision’.
The story may not be over yet though – the developers say they are considering their options for the project, which includes a monorail, over 100 holiday lodges and two hotels.
Loch Long Salmon Farm – ministers intervene
Last year Scottish Government ministers overturned the national park’s unanimous refusal of Loch Long Salmon’s plan for a fish farm near Arrochar – overruling not just the national park but the Reporter they had appointed, who had recommended that the appeal be thrown out.
There were concerns about a high level of microplastics in the loch, and ministers conceded that the fish farm was ‘industrial in appearance’, but they still approved it, highlighting that it would use semi-closed containment systems for the first time in Scotland.
National park convener Heather Reid said afterwards: “Board members cited the significant landscape, seascape and visual issues of the proposed development and that the risk of an escape of farmed fish could impact on the fragile wild salmon population.
“We continue to stand by those reasons for refusal and note that the Scottish Government-appointed Reporter also recommended to Ministers that the appeal should be dismissed on some of these grounds.”
Wind farms – civil servants have the final say
There are currently four planning applications for wind farms near the national park:
Giants Burn, near Dunoon; Inverchaolain, also on the Cowal Peninsula; The Vale of Leven; and Glentarken, near Lochearnhead.
The national park authority has already objected to three of these – leading to claims of ‘nimbyism’ from the Friends of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs – but will not have the final say. Instead, the Scottish Government’s Energy Consents Unit (ECU) will decide on all of the plans, because they exceed 50 megawatts.
In the case of Giants Burn, a smaller plan for an adjacent site was previously rejected after Argyll and Bute Council held a public hearing.This time around the council, national park and NatureScot have all objected, together with air traffic control body NATS, with local councillor William Sinclair complaining that the ECU website created a ‘misleading narrative’ as it took so long to publish public comments.
“Whilst I understand each submission must be individually reviewed and redacted where necessary,” he said. “They are a fully funded Scottish Government body and should never be so far behind. This would have not happened if Argyll and Bute Council were the planning authority.”
A solution? The Sandford Principle
Green Party co-leader Ross Greer, who objected to both Flamingo Land and Loch Long Salmon, proposed an amendment to the Scottish Government’s Natural Environment Bill to require ministers to ‘put nature first’ in national parks.
The amendment would extend the Sandford Principle, which gives conservation priority when national park aims conflict with economic development. Currently, it applies only to park authorities making planning decisions, not to ministers deciding on appeals or other national park matters.
“Our national parks quite rightly have to put protection of the natural environment first in their decision-making, so it’s absurd that ministers can disregard that when making their own decisions about what happens within the park,” he said
“We need to treat our national parks like the special places that they are. My proposals are just a common-sense recognition of our responsibility towards Scotland’s world-famous natural environment.”
“Stuart Mearns, director of Place at Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park Authority, said: “As well as being a national park authority, we are also the statutory planning authority responsible for all planning decisions across the park… The National Park sits at a critical intersection: between urban and rural Scotland, between conservation and development, and between national ambition and local delivery. Everything we do is guided by that responsibility, to provide a pioneering example of how people and nature can thrive together.”
This article is from our print magazine The Power Shift.
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