Balloch Charrette update – May 2017

Balloch Castle

Z.M.Architects  who were commissioned by West Dunbartonshire Council to assess potential uses for Balloch Castle have now submitted their draft report. The Council are currently considering the recommendations in the draft report and hope to provide more details on the Balloch Castle ideas in early summer.

West Riverside

The West Riverside developers are continuing to undertake detailed analysis of the development site, investigating the various constraints which will inform the layout of the proposal and overall masterplan.  A planning application is still expected later this year with public consultation required to be undertaken by the developers before it is submitted.

Parking Strategy

West Dunbartonshire Council has shared the results from a parking survey which was undertaken by JMP Consultants over four days during the summer of 2016. This consisted of counting the number of vehicles parked in the car parks and areas included in the brief between 7am and 7pm, when demand would be at its greatest. The days were deliberately chosen to show typical week days (Thursday 28 July and Wednesday 3 August) as well as weekends where demand was expected to be higher than usual (Sunday 31 July, during Glasgow Fair Fortnight and Saturday 6 August, when a touring Circus had a show in Loch Lomond Shores). A short summary of findings are:

• The car parks in Central Balloch were busier during the weekends surveyed with 14.29% spare capacity, compared to 25.29% spare capacity during weekdays over the study period.
• Parking in peripheral car parks had 59% spare capacity at weekends, compared to 67.67% during the week.
• On street parking had 54.75% spare capacity at weekends, compared to 60.5% during the week.
• The overall percentage of spare capacity for the collective area was found to be 42.68% at weekends, compared to 51.15% during the week.

The Council is leading on the actions identified in the Charrette in respect of parking, but along with Scottish Enterprise and the Park Authority, the partners are considering the results from this parking survey.

Station and Village Squares

Sustrans have been holding a number of consultation events looking at what Station and Village Squares could look like in the future with the last of these consultation events just closed. The views and opinions received on all the consultation events have really helped shape the thinking on the design of the proposals. The next step in the process is to hold a showcase exhibition starting the 7^th June at the National Park HQ to present the proposals. Further details on this showcase exhibition will be announced soon.

Activity Strategy

The first ever European Championships will be held in Glasgow in 2018 and Balloch is hosting the Open Water Swimming competition at Loch Lomond during the 1^st week in August 2018. The games organisers expect massive TV audiences and are keen to showcase all the great destinations visitors to Glasgow can easily reach from the city centre.  This is a great opportunity for local businesses and the wider community and it is hoped that Balloch can capitalise on this event by hosting a festival to welcome visitors from across Europe.  As part of planning for this a wider events strategy group will be created to set out a plan for event development and management in the area.

We will keep you posted with updates and consultations.

Please let us know any questions via livepark@lochlomond-trossachs.org or Facebook comments.