PLANS for regenerating Balloch train station and village centre have been showcased to the community at a drop-in session and workshop.

Working in partnership with Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park and West Dunbartonshire Council, Sustrans Scotland is leading on the design proposals and were pleased to have a great turn out at their input sessions.

The feeling at the national park headquarters where the two events were held last Thursday was that the plans were “looking good”, but there was still work to be done.

Rowena Colpitts, senior engineer at Sustrans, told The Reporter: “We’re taking comments from the people within Balloch, this session is to develop the feedback we got from the first session.

“We’ll have the workshop where everything will be laid out and we can get more opinions from the public on how they want it to look and feel.

“We want to get people to concentrate on how to achieve what they want from this.”

There were representatives from various community groups there to look in and have their say on the plans.

John Urquhart, vice chairman of the Friends of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, said: “Balloch is an extremely important place in terms of being a gateway to the national park so it’s vital to get this right.

“It’s important that it’s welcoming and gives a good impression when people first get here, it should look top-rate. I hope that’s what comes out of this.

“It should draw people in, into Balloch, into the park, into the beautiful scenery we have here.

The plans are still at an early stage however, with no decisions being set in stone yet. There were questions to be asked on the specifics of the regeneration of the area, one particular concern for Jim Bidulph, secretary of Balloch and Haldane Community Council, was the parking in the area.

He said: “Obviously we are pleased this is actually happening, all the facts and figures are there. It looks tremendous but the only thing I can see lacking is the parking element.

“We have a picture here of what it will be but it’s not a true picture and of course this is only the consultation stage so we don’t actually know when it’ll all start.

“What I will say is that the £1.2m that has been invested will be very well spent.”

Representatives of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs were there to help facilitate the session and help answer any questions and assuage any concerns from residents. Kenny Auld, access and recreation adviser, commented that it was great to see such input from the community.