THE company behind plans for a major tourist development in Balloch - including a monorail, indoor water park, two hotels and forest lodges - has been put on the spot by councillors over its proposals.

Lomond Banks' £40 million plans for the West Riverside and Woodbank House sites were the subject of a 'pre-application consultation' meeting with members of West Dunbartonshire Council (WDC) on Wednesday.

The event was part of consultations by the Flamingo Land firm on its revised proposals for the area after a previous application, which attracted more than 50,000 objections, was withdrawn in 2019.

A public drop-in event giving residents the chance to find out more and ask questions of the project team will be held at Lomond Parish Church in Alexandria on Thursday, November 25.

A briefing document prepared for councillors before the meeting lists the development proposals as follows:

Pierhead
• Aparthotel
• Indoor Water Park
• Recreation and indoor attractions
• Monorail terminal
• Staff offices
• Watersports hub and storage
• Visitor hub
• Food and beverage

Riverside
• Forest Lodges
• Picnic and BBQ areas
• Playgrounds
• Monorail

Woodbank House
• Woodland lodges
• Bothies
• Woodbank House retained and converted to holiday apartments
• Boathouse Activity Centre

Station Square
• Refurbished Tourist information
• Budget hotel
• Craft Brewery and Visitor Centre
• Restaurant
• Enhance Public Square
• Performance Amphitheatre
• Monorail Station

Drumkinnon Woods
• No built development in ancient woodland area
• Paths and trails
• Woodland management – maintain and conserve trees

Councillor Sally Page, one of three councillors for the Lomond ward, which includes Balloch, raised a number of questions with the Lomond Banks project team during Wednesday's session.

The Conservative councillor said: "I personally have a slight problem with the National Park encouraging visitors. Can I please ask if you have ever travelled on a train in Balloch? 

"I am not sure you were on the train in summer, when we had so many problems that police were meeting every train that arrived, and local people were driving to Dumbarton to get on the train because it was more comfortable to travel."

A spokesperson for Lomond Banks replied: "Through discussions with the local community I am very aware that the community start to feel overwhelmed and that does cause anti-social behaviour, so we have taken that back and thought how Flamingo Land will operate."

Though WDC is a consultee, the council will have no formal role in deciding on the fate of a formal planning application, which is expected to be lodged with the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority in the new year.