Residents have slammed plans for the new theme park as “anti-democratic” and “irreversibly damaging”.

Plans for the new theme park have been strongly opposed by residents (Image: Lennox Herald)

A Yorkshire-based theme park operator has unveiled plans to build a waterpark, monorail, hotel and restaurants on the banks of a national park in Scotland. The £43.5 billion development near Loch Lomond in Balloch, West Dunbartonshire, has been vehemently opposed by local campaigners, with an outraged MP dubbing it “the most unpopular planning application in Scottish history”. Residents will hold a public meeting this week in a bid to overturn the controversial project, which was rejected by the national park authority before being overruled and approved by the SNP this month.

The new Flamingo Land holiday village will include two hotels, over 100 lodges and a waterpark near the banks of Loch Lomond – but has met with criticism over its environmental impact, job offerings and consequences for the local traffic network. The national park is known for its red deer population and beautiful oak woodland, and the Loch Lomond authority also warned that the plans could create an “unacceptable risk” of flooding from the River Leven.

The holiday resort would be built on West Riverside in Balloch (Image: Lomond Banks)

The existing Flamingo Land resort in North Yorkshire originally opened in 1959 as a zoo, and remains a diverse tourist attraction including rollercoasters, a leisure centre and over 140 species of mammals, reptiles and birds.

The firm’s initial application for a second site in Scotland was withdrawn in 2019 after a lack of public support, but it was resubmitted months later with the promise of being a “major step away” from its Yorkshire counterpart.

Flamingo Land in Scotland was approved by a reporter in the Scottish Government’s Planning and Environmental Appeals Division, subject to 49 conditions, including reaching an agreement with the Loch Lomond park authority.

Once built, the large-scale development will include self-catering woodland and riverfront lodges, dining and retail areas for visitors, a craft brewery, and event and picnic areas, as depicted in the developer’s CGI previews of the site.

Green MSP Ross Greer, who has led the campaign against the project, said the theme park was “the most unpopular planning application in Scottish history” and pledged to “leave no stone unturned” in his fight against it going ahead.

“This is an anti-democratic outrage,” he added. “I cannot believe that Flamingo Land’s destructive and immensely unpopular media resort is being given the go-ahead by Government officials.

“It will cause irreversible damage to the world-famous local environment of Loch Lomond.”

A spokesperson for the Scottish Government said: “An independent reporter has issued a decision intimating that he is minded to grant planning permission in principle for the proposal, subject to 49 planning conditions, subject to a legal agreement being reached between the national park authority and developer to secure the employment and environment issues that are set out in the Lomond Promise.

“As the appeal remains live, it would not be appropriate to comment further on the merits of the proposed development.”