West Riverside and Woodbank House (Lomond Banks)
Information on the proposals for potential ‘Lomond Banks’ development at West Riverside and Woodbank House, Balloch.
Update: 4th October 2021
The prospective applicant for the proposed development at Woodbank House and West Riverside, Balloch (Lomond Banks), has launched their initial public consultation event online. You can access the virtual event at the Lomond Banks Website.
The consultation will run until Friday 15 October. The web link also contains details of how to sign up for a live event which will be held at 7pm on Thursday 7th October.
This consultation is led by the applicant, not by the National Park Authority. Anyone with an interest in this proposed development should take part in the consultation and provide feedback directly to the prospective applicant and not to the National Park Authority. You can contact them via the Lomond Banks Website
This event forms part of the Pre-Application Consultation (PAC) process. This is a statutory requirement for proposals relating to major developments.
The overall aim of the PAC is for communities to be better informed about major development proposals and to have an opportunity to share their views with the prospective applicants before a formal planning application is submitted to the planning authority.
The PAC process requires that the prospective applicants submit a Proposal of Application Notice (PAN) to the National Park Authority setting out their plans for consultation with the local community and other stakeholders before submitting a planning application. There must be a period of at least 12 weeks between serving the PAN and the submission of the planning application.
The initial PAN was submitted to the National Park Authority on 8th June 2021.
The planning team checked this and responded on 29th June 2021. An updated PAN was submitted to the National Park Authority on 9th August 2021. You can view these documents by entering the reference number 2021/0212/PAC on our planning public access website.
This is not a planning application at this stage. No new planning application has been submitted at this stage.
A decision can only be taken on these development proposals once a formal planning application is submitted and a detailed planning assessment is carried out following consultations. We cannot comment on the merits of any proposals until the forthcoming planning process is completed.
We will follow the standard process for handling any major planning application. This process is set out in detail in our Major Planning Applications Explained blog.
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
The prospective applicant has also requested an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) ‘Screening and Scoping Opinion’. This is a preliminary step in preparation for a potential future planning application for this site and is typically a requirement for proposals relating to major developments.
The request for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) ‘Screening and Scoping Opinion’ consists of two parts:
The Screening Opinion request asked the Planning Authority whether an Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIA Report) is required with any future planning application. A Screening Opinion stating that an EIA report is required was issued on 22 June 2021. You can view the Screening Opinion by entering the reference number PSC/2021/0005 on our planning public access website.
The purpose of the Scoping Opinion request is to agree with us, as the planning authority, the scope of the environmental information and assessment that would need to be included in the EIA Report.
The National Park Authority’s planning team sought the advice of external consultees and expertise as needed for the scoping response. The Scoping Opinion was completed on 27th July 2021.
You can view the Scoping Opinion by entering the reference number PSC/2021/0005 on our planning public access website.
This is not a planning application and there is no opportunity for the public to make comment on this aspect of the process.
Previous application
A previous planning application for a major development at West Riverside and Woodbank House, Balloch, was registered as valid on 21st May 2018. On 17th September 2019 this application was withdrawn by the applicants and the Pre-determination Hearing and Meeting to determine the application was cancelled. As the planning authority, we issued this statement on the withdrawal of the application.
The previous planning application and planning report can be viewed online via our planning portal under reference 2018/0133/PPP.
While we make every effort to ensure these links are accurate, up to date and relevant, the National Park Authority has no responsibility for pages maintained by external providers.
The National Park Authority takes no responsibility for information contained on external links from this website. Views expressed by individuals on their own webpages or on external sites they link to are not necessarily those of the National Park Authority.
These links are being provided for information purposes only; they do not constitute an endorsement or an approval by the National Park Authority of any of the products, services or opinions of the corporation or organsation or individual. The National Park Authority bears no responsibility for the accuracy, legality or content of the external site or for that of subsequent links. Please contact the external site directly for answers to questions regarding its content.