Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park Authority has received a national planning award for a new development on the banks of Loch Lomond.
The Outstanding Quality Planning Award for Development on the Ground was presented to the Park Authority by Planning Minister, John Swinney, at a ceremony in Edinburgh on Thursday, March 13.
The award, made on behalf of the Scottish Quality Planning Awards, in association with the Royal Town Plannning Institute, was in recognition of the Park’s handling of a major new leisure development on an area of the lochside that covered Bronze Age settlements and an early Christian cemetery.
Signs of early life on the shores of Loch Lomond were amongst the sensitive issues arising out of the development of an 18 hole golf course, holiday apartments and a leisure complex at The Carrick Golf Resort Development, Midross, created by the De Vere hotel group.
The National Park Authority held significant negotiations with De Vere and provided extensive expert advice to raise the standard of development in the areas of landscape design, integrated site management and design of the buildings. The development demonstrated how such a development could be made more sustainable and support all four of the National Park's statutory aims.
Throughout the development, there was significant input from landscape, ecology and archaeological professionals to ensure that a wide range of heritage and design matters were properly addressed. During the development significant archaeological finds were discovered including Bronze Age settlements and an early Christian cemetery. These finds have led to new thinking about the history of settlement of Loch Lomondside.
The awards mark a new phase for the National Park Authority which has launched a Planning Service Improvement Plan aimed at facilitating high quality, sustainable and appropriate development in Loch Lomond and The Trossachs and a more efficient and accessible service.
