A GOVERNMENT agency has denied that it's walked away from controversial proposals for a major tourism development at the southern end of Loch Lomond.
Scotland's economy secretary, Fiona Hyslop, has told Green MSP Ross Greer - a long-standing critic of Flamingo Land's development proposals for the West Riverside and Woodbank House sites - that Scottish Enterprise will "no longer be a co-applicant" if and when a new planning application for the sites is lodged.
Mr Greer claims that is because Flamingo Land's proposals have become "toxic" after a previous application sparked 60,000 objections and was recommended for refusal by planning officials shortly before being withdrawn.
But Scottish Enterprise says it still supports the principle of development at the site - and insists that its decision not to put its name to any future application is simply to avoid the potential for any conflict of interest, in the event of Scottish ministers "calling in" new development plans.
The controversial 2018 planning application for the site was lodged in the name of "Flamingo Land Limited and Scottish Enterprise".
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It was withdrawn in September 2019, just days after planning bosses at the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority recommended that permission should be refused.
However, in December 2020, it was revealed that Flamingo Land and Scottish Enterprise had agreed an extension to their ‘exclusivity agreement’ - which means that the land, currently owned by Scottish Enterprise, will be sold to Flamingo Land should planning permission be granted.
But a recent letter sent to Mr Greer by Scottish Government Economy Secretary Fiona Hyslop revealed that “Scottish Enterprise will not be a co-applicant in the planning process”.
Mr Greer insists that the public “shouldn’t be fooled”, and claims Scottish Enterprise are “still putting public money into this second attempt at getting the plans approved”.
The West of Scotland MSP commented: “Flamingo Land and their plans have become so toxic that even their closest supporters in government don’t want their name attached.
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“They had the chance to listen to the public and reconsider options such as a community-buyout of the land, but instead they’ve doubled down on a project which was so spectacularly rejected two years ago.
“The difference this time is that Scottish Enterprise, and by extension the Scottish Government, clearly want to keep their involvement low-profile.
“It remains to be seen exactly what they’ll propose, but the fact that Flamingo Land’s strongest ally don’t want it lodged in their name shouldn’t fill us with confidence.”
A Scottish Enterprise spokesman responded: “Given the particularly high profile of this project at the previous application stage, it was considered appropriate for Scottish Enterprise – as a public agency – to remove the possibility of any perception of a conflict of interest if the new application is ever called in by Scottish Government ministers.
“However, we continue to support this project, which will bring much-needed jobs and investment following the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the local economy and the tourism sector, in particular.”
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