BBCThe Scottish government has stalled plans for a controversial holiday park at Loch Lomond.
Ministers had previously been set to give permission for the development, overturning the national park authority which said it did not comply with environmental and nature conservation policies.
Theme park operator Flamingo Land believed it would be given the go-ahead to build a £40m resort called Lomond Banks, featuring a waterpark, monorail, hotel and restaurants.
The Scottish government’s Minister for Public Finance, Ivan McKee, has now said he will recall the plans because “the development raises issues of national significance in view of its potential impact on Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park”.
He said: “This means that the appeal should be determined at a national level.”
McKee has previously resisted calls for ministers to intervene in the decision to allow the plans to go forward.
The original proposal sparked protests and was initially rejected last September by Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park authority, who said it did not comply with environmental and nature conservation policies.
But that was appealed to the Scottish government reporter, who last month said they intended to grant permission – subject to a legal agreement between Flamingo Land and the park.
Government reporters consider the vast majority of appeals, appointed by ministers to make a decision on their behalf.
However some of these are ‘recalled’ by ministers who will then make the final decision themselves.
At the time, development director for Lomond Banks Jim Paterson said it was a “real milestone moment” which had been “a long time in the making”.
But Scottish Greens MSP Ross Greer, who has been a long-standing critic of the plan, said the development would cause “irreversible damage” and the decision was an “anti-democratic outrage”.
Flamingo Land first submitted plans for the site in 2018, but withdrew them the following year after a wave of negative reaction.
It submitted updated plans in 2020, insisting the proposal would be a “major step away” from its other resorts, including a theme park and zoo in Yorkshire.
But the Loch Lomond park authority board ruled that the updated scheme still conflicted with both regional and national environmental policies.
Stuart Pearce, “director of place” for the park authority, previously said the plans created “unacceptable risk” of flooding of the River Leven.
More than 174,000 people signed a petition against the project.
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