OUR PLACE.
OUR FUTURE.
OUR BALLOCH & HALDANE.
It’s time for us to take the lead.
The community is creating a manifesto for the future of Balloch, Haldane and Jamestown. Our place, our future, our plan.
This is our moment to come together and agree a shared future. Our Community Council has secured funding from Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park and West Dunbartonshire Council to produce what’s called a “Local Place Plan”.
But it won’t be their plan: it will be our plan. Rather than the community being at the receiving end of plans produced by others, we as a community will are deciding what we want our future to be. And we’re creating a plan of action to make it happen.
A series of community activities have been taking place during late 2025 and early 2026 to gather your ideas and create the plan.
We now have a draft Plan ready for you to check!
The deadline for comments is Sunday 12 April. We’ll then finalise the Plan to take account of your suggestions.
Once finished, the Plan will be ‘registered’ by the National Park and West Dunbartonshire Council. The Community Council and other community groups will use it as a platform to secure what the community needs.
10 years AGO
Back in 2014, the community produced Balloch and Haldane Community Action Plan.
The plan had four main themes:
Sport, recreation and local environment
Improve our local infrastructure
Young people, safety and the local economy
Develop the visitor experience
THE BACKSTORY
Under those four headings, the plan identified ten priority actions:
Improved range of recreational facilities
Improved quality of the local environment
Maintained and improved public transport links
Better roads paths and services
Better provision of activities for young people
Maintain police presence
Develop training and employment opportunities
Better promotion of the area and its activities
Renovation of key local landmarks
Increased range of tourist attractions & events
Now, a decade later, the question is - are those still the right things to focus on?
TODAY
Now in 2025, we have a new opportunity to make an up-to-date plan for the village.
Our Community Council has made it possible by securing funding from Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park and West Dunbartonshire Council.
New planning legislation means that communities can now prepare their own plans and expect them to be taken seriously. Find out more and see some examples on the Local Place Plans page.
During late 2025 and early 2026, there will be plenty of opportunities for everyone to shape the Plan:
November-February: find out your ideas for Balloch & Haldane in various different ways - community drop-ins, survey, youth activities, a business event
March: publish the draft Plan for everyone to check, based on the issues and aspirations that emerged during the first stage
April: update the Plan based on everyone’s feedback, before the Community Council submits it to the National Park and West Dunbartonshire Council for ‘registration’ as our Local Place Plan
Scroll down to find out more.
GATHERING YOUR IDEAS
The first stage of the work has been to gather everyone’s ideas about the future of Balloch, Haldane and Jamestown. We’ve been doing this in various ways, as described in this section.
The fundamental question we’ve been asking is: what do you want your community to be like in the future?
COMMUNITY EVENTS & ONLINE SURVEY
Community drop-in events took place in Balloch and Haldane on the 28th and 29th November 2025. Around 45 people came along to share their suggestions about:
What’s great about the community, and what’s not so great.
Suggestions for the future, using the last community-led plan in 2014 as a starting point.
What needs to happen where, on a giant map.
Fears for the future.
The same questions could also be answered in an online survey, which was open until the end of December and had around 50 respondents.
The results make for fascinating reading. Together with the views of young people and businesses (see below), they identify clear priorities that the new Plan should address.
You can read summaries and full transcriptions of everyone’s comments in the report. Tap the image below to see transcriptions of people’s comments on the giant map.
Young people are the future of the community. They deserve a voice in its future.
Our 2014 Community Action Plan said that young people are a big priority for the community as a whole. Is that still the case? What do they need now?
Since October 2025, we’ve been tapping into the ideas and creativity of young people through Haldane Youth Services and local schools.
The four maps below contain suggestions from young people at Haldane Youth Services, Our Lady & St Patricks High School, Vale of Leven Academy, and Balloch / St Kessogs Primary Schools. Red hearts indicate young people’s special places. Caption bubbles are their ideas for the future.
YOUNG PEOPLE
Jobs, training, visitor attractions and things to do also emerged as a priority in the 2014 Community Action Plan. So helping businesses to create more jobs and opportunities seems a sensible thing to think about in the new plan.
With that in mind, a business drop-in took place at lunchtime on Thursday 4th December to understand what businesses need.
Turnout was quiet with just a handful of participants, so we’ve been making direct contact with as many local businesses as we can. Please get in touch!
BUSINESSES
The draft Plan brings together everyone’s ideas into one clear plan for the future.
Does it hit the spot? You tell us.
The deadline is Sunday 12 April.
Your feedback will determine the final Plan.
DRAFT PLAN
Community launch
All welcome!
🗓️ Monday 16 March 12-7pm
🕖 Presentations at 1pm and 6pm
📌 National Park HQ reception G83 8EG opposite Balloch Co-op
The headlines
Only got 5 minutes?
Check out a summary of the draft Plan in the images.
You can download a PDF of the full set here.
Does it hit the spot? Don’t forget to tell us what you think!
Remember, the closing date for feedback is Sunday 12 April.
You also see a hard copy of the Plan, with paper feedback forms, in Balloch Library.
The full version
Got a bit more time?
Check out the full draft Plan, which you can also download here.
Does it hit the spot? Don’t forget to tell us what you think!
Remember, the closing date for feedback is Sunday 12 April.
You also see a hard copy of the Plan, with paper feedback forms, in Balloch Library.
In April, we’ll go through everyone’s comments on the draft Plan, share them here, and update the Plan.
The Community Council, on behalf of the community, will then submit the final Plan to the National Park authority and West Dunbartonshire Council for registration.
Then we’ll shift up a gear to make it happen!