28 November 2008

Last week the National Park Authority granted approval for plans for a second golf course near Luss on the shores of Loch Lomond. This was the final act in a complicated drama which began before the formation of the National Park, when outline planning permission was given in the 1990s.

This meant that the principle of the development was already established when the National Park Authority came to consider the application this year.

However, in the meantime conservation work on the site revealed that the proposals threatened ancient woodlands and important landscape features. The developers went back to the drawing board and revised their plans. The changes satisfied the National Park Authority which duly granted permission, subject to a number of conditions and a legal agreement on landscape, woodland, loch shore, biodiversity, protected species, public access, geology and archaeology issues.

Not everyone is happy. The Woodland Trust commented that the proposed site was ‘a great natural habitat on the banks of Loch Lomond and it's very disappointing that it's going to be gobbled up by more of the golf course’. Ironically, of course, the decision to approve the plans came at the same time that the golf club admitted its financial difficulties and went into the hands of a US firm of business recovery specialists amid financial problems. Where this leaves the proposals is anyone’s guess.

But where does it leave Loch Lomond? The plans sandwich the golf club between two others on the southern shores of the loch. Access has been secured,