A decision on Flamingo Land at Loch Lomond will be made at a public meeting on Monday, September 16.

A site visit, hearing and board meeting will take place at the site to determine the planning application for a major development at Lomond Banks.

The plans that have been submitted are for a hotel, self-catering holiday lodges and a water park as well as restaurants, a craft brewery and leisure centre and the debate has been ongoing since they were submitted in 2020.

An original proposal was withdrawn in September 2019 before they returned the following year and Flamingo Land have insisted regularly that there will be no theme park and it is different to their other sites.

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The group have operated since the 1950s with a theme park and zoo in Yorkshire and there is plenty of opposition to their Loch Lomond hopes, with it even being described as ‘the most unpopular planning application in Scottish history’ by Greens MSP Ross Greer.

Concerns had been raised over the effects it would have on one of Scotland’s most scenic areas while additional traffic in the area has also been a worry.

SEPA have also shared their worries about the development and requested that the lodges were removed from part of the site that has been designated as a flood plain after they questioned whether their proposals to mitigate the risk of floods were appropriate.

Now a final decision is set to be made later this year with members of Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park Authority Board agreeing that it will be made in September following a site visit and a public hearing.

There is a high level of public interest in the application and arrangements are now being made to find a suitable venue local to Balloch with further details to be announced on where it will be held so locals can attend.

The National Park Authority have looked to make it clear that no decision has been made on the application but because of the public interest they felt it was important to make their process as clear as possible.

All the information they need has already been received and they will continue to assess the situation over the coming months before the final decision is made in September.

A spokesperson for the National Park Authority said: “This application has not yet been decided. No position has yet been taken in support of or against this planning application. However, with high levels of public interest, we felt it would be useful to set out as early as possible the process for taking a decision.

“Officers now have all the information required to assess the application and that assessment will continue between now and September.  All submitted documents, consultee responses and representations from the public are being considered as part of the assessment.”

Flamingo Land insist it will benefit the community and add jobs to the area and they have promised to use local businesses throughout the development’s construction and that could add an extra £3million to the local economy.

The original proposals were unanimously rejected by West Dunbartonshire Council but the local authority have now backed it and that sparked further protests from the community.

A report on the proposal will be made available in early September and that will include a recommendation to the board which could play a big role in the outcome of the final decision.

People will then be given details on how they can request an opportunity to speak at the public hearing and express their views on the matter.

The spokesperson continued: “Once the assessment phase has concluded, a report will be published that includes a recommendation to board members that they either approve or refuse the application. That report will be published on the National Park Authority website in early September, in advance of the board meeting.

“Once the report has been published, those who have submitted formal comments on the application will be notified and given details on how they can request to speak at the public hearing.”

Last month, the Scottish Greens revealed almost 100,000 people had submitted their objections to the development with co-leader Patrick Harvie describing the plans as ‘appalling’.

He said: “I’m grateful to the 94,000 people who have objected to these appalling plans. Loch Lomond is a special place for millions of us around the world.

"If these proposals are given the green light they would destroy a beautiful site on the banks and cause irreversible damage to the local environment. No wonder so many people are objecting to them.

“What Flamingo Land wants to do is completely inappropriate and totally out of step with what people want. It is one of Scotland’s most iconic landscapes and we must protect it from these plans."