Balloch Charrette Update – September 2018

Village Square

The final design for village square – which covers the area round the entrance to the Moss’O Balloch up to the area in front of the Keystore –  has now been agreed by West Dunbartonshire Council and the contract for the works is currently out to tender.

The aim of the project is to create a more attractive, people friendly village square and the improvement works include resurfacing pavements and the introduction of pedestrian friendly crossings.

Improvement works are scheduled to begin in early February 2019 and the finalised design is the result of a number of consultation events.   It is exciting to see the project move into the delivery phase and we’ll post updates as work progresses.

Below is the approved plans for the village square area.

Parking Strategy

Additional car parking is planned for the Moss O’ Balloch and Balloch Road West will also be upgraded. The work involves making better use of the existing Moss O’Balloch area to increase the number of car parking spaces and also better delineate parking spaces at Balloch Road West. The improvement work is expected to be completed by the end of 2018.

West Riverside and Woodbank House

A planning application for a major development at West Riverside and Woodbank House, Balloch, was registered as valid on 21st May 2018.

The application is currently in the planning assessment phase where we review responses and advice from all the statutory consultees on this application. In addition we have received a high volume of comments on the application from members of the public. All responses and comments received will be taken into account in the consideration of the application.

To allow us to conclude our assessment we have requested further information from the applicant.  When this information is received there will be a process of re-consultation with the relevant statutory consultees.  Those who have submitted a representation to the application will also be informed and have a further opportunity to comment on the proposal.  Any new information received will be published on application’s page on the e-planning portal.

An application of this scale takes a significant amount of time to assess and determine.  Once all the representations and information from the applicant has been fully considered, the planning case officer will make a recommendation to our Board members to either approve or refuse the application. The Authority’s Board or Planning and Access Committee (made up by members of our Board) will then make a decision on the application at a meeting in public.  We will publicise the date of this meeting once it is confirmed and everyone who has submitted a representation to the application will be informed.

You can read more on the current planning application here

Events/Activity Strategy

The iconic waters of Loch Lomond played host to the inaugural European Championships Open Water Swimming competition last month, giving sports fans an opportunity to see some of the best aquatics stars on the continent take to water – for free.

The open water swimming competition showcased Loch Lomond to a TV audience of over 1 billion viewers worldwide demonstrating that Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park is a world class venue for outdoor sporting events.

To celebrate the Championships coming to the area an arts and cultural event called Festival 2018: Balloch Loch Lomond also took place to coincide with the swimming competition

The event – part of Festival 2018, the cultural programme for the Glasgow 2018 European Championships – brought a fun, family friendly atmosphere to Balloch with both visitors and locals enjoying entertainment from a wide range of local artists, community groups and international performers.

Feedback from the day has been hugely positive with over 3,500 people attending the festival at any one point throughout the day and there was some great media coverage.

Both events were a huge success, attracting thousands of people to the area, many from all over Europe, and shining a light on everything the National Park has offer.