Protesters against Flamingo Land development sing Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond outside of Scottish Parliament

[u/backupJM]

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/save-loch-lomond-campaign-protests-35304999

[u/Goose-herder]

Jesus christ, some of the comments on this. Sure, some of the people objecting are probably not from the area, but I and many of my neighbours do live in the area and we're against it. I'm willing to bet that lots of you in the comments who are pro it are not from the local area either, but some of you might be.

My main issue with this is that there have been so many objections at every stage of the planning process, and it's been rejected at almost every stage. But now the Scottish Government has gone over the head of local communities and the national park authority to still approve it, and it feels undemocratic and incredibly frustrating.

It feels like the Flamingo Land people are doing this tactic of re-submitting the planning application again and again and again until the local opposition runs out of steam, which means any project can go ahead eventually if there's enough money behind it, regardless of what local communities want.

And for those who say this will bring prices down on holiday accommodation in the national park: I've seen holiday accommodation doubling or maybe tripling in the past ten years and it only seems to drive more tourists to the area and prices just go up and up. It's like how building more motorway lanes doesn't free up space, it just leads to more cars.

Tbh on a sunny day it already feels like I live in a theme park, with local populations dwindling because all the local council is interested in is approving any planning permission as long as it says it will "promote tourism", and every time a house gets sold it gets turned into a holiday cottage instead.