Ross Greer has offered an olive branch to developers behind the Lomond Banks project after it was unanimously rejected at a hearing at the Lomond Parish Church on Monday evening.

The Green MSP has tirelessly campaigned against the project along with local community members and councillors such as Lynne Somerville from the Balloch and Haldane Council.

There were emotional scenes as the decision was announced following six hours of debate and back and forth in the hall. A total of 11 speakers were heard from throughout the day with five in favour of the development, including Reverend Ian Miller who spoke passionately about the jobs it could bring, and six who were against it including Mr Greer, Ms Somerville and Labour MSP Jackie Baillie.

In the end, though, the environmental impact was too much for the Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park Authority Board to ignore and all 14 members ­­voted to reject the application.

It now remains to be seen what will happen but Mr Greer was delighted with the result and told Flamingo Land to go back to the drawing board or he will look for the Scottish Government to cancel their exclusive contract on the land owned.

Speaking after the announcement, he said: “It’s just such an exceptional sense of relief and jubilation but primarily relief. Eight years I’ve been fighting this since I was first elected and Flamingo Land were on the scene a couple of years before that so a decade this community has been fighting them off.

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"Their first application failed, they didn’t take the message and they brought back basically the same thing and it ended up being more unpopular and a more inappropriate development as well.

“I’m just really proud of the community. This is an amazing result for the Loch, the community and for Scotland and its international reputation. Scarring Loch Lomond would have been a disaster for Scotland so it’s a brilliant result. I’m delighted with the conclusion the board has come to."

Ross Greer has extended an olive branchRoss Greer has extended an olive branch (Image: Colin Mearns)

He added: “This is a community that has been on the defensive for a decade. We’ve got so many ideas for what we want to do to make Balloch a better place to live and for people who visit, we’ve not been able to do that because we’ve spent 10 years fighting off this proposal. They still have an exclusive contract to the land and now it’s going to be on getting the Scottish Government to terminate the contract for the site.

“We’ve got a community fund, we’ve got a community council who are bursting with ideas to take forward and want Woodbank House to be developed. It’s a tragedy it’s in ruin and Flamingo Land need to take responsibility for that because they have owned it for a good few years, this is an opportunity to turn the page and give Balloch what it really needs in a much more proper form of development and one that maintains the environment and makes this place so special.

“Flamingo Land have the opportunity to do something with the west end of the site that they own and go back to the drawing board after a period of time of reflection and come back with something the community actually want that will enhance the environment, not scar it.

“We want to work with them to do that at Woodbank House, there’s never going to be an appropriate way to build a resort on the scale of what they propose. If they hadn’t wasted the last decade on something that was so inappropriate from the start then maybe we could have started repair work on Woodbank already.”

Ms Somerville was especially emotional in the aftermath and was widely congratulated by people from the community in the moments following the announcement. It was clear she didn’t want the praise and she insisted it was a community effort and she’s now said the work is only starting in the area.

“It’s super emotional. There’s been a lot of blood, sweat, tears and hours spent regards to what we wanted to fight again. Knowing that we’ve won is emotional.

“Allanah from Save Loch Lomond has now come onto the Balloch and Haldane Community Council but she’s been fighting for eight years. I’ve only been in for the last year or so but even that is a lot and draining. I had originally objected but I wasn’t anywhere near as involved as Allanah.

“We’re over the moon. We’re going to be looking at alternatives to help the local community and the visiting tourists.

“There’s a lot of work to do but it’s good work because it’s building rather than fighting.”

Campaigners celebrate outside Lomond parish churchCampaigners celebrate outside Lomond parish church (Image: Colin Mearns)

Jim Paterson, Development Director for Lomond Banks, said: “We are disappointed but not surprised as we anticipated this decision following the case officer’s earlier recommendation.

“We believe we have a really strong case as this is a responsible investment that will create many opportunities for the area and Scotland as a whole. We remain fully committed to the process.”