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.
And you are invited to shape it!
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 your plan. Rather than the community being at the receiving end of plans produced by others, we as a community will work out what we want our future to be. And we’ll create a plan of action to make it happen.
A series of community activities will take place during late 2025 and early 2026 to create the plan. The basic question we’ll be asking ourselves is: what is most important for the future of our community?
Once the plan is finished, it will be ‘registered’ by the National Park and the Council. The Community Council and community groups will then use it as a platform to lobby for what the community needs.
Read on to find out how you can shape your place, from the spaces you use every day to the opportunities you want to see created.
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-December: find out your ideas for Balloch & Haldane in lots of ways - community drop-ins, survey, youth activities, a business event
January-February: publish draft Plan for everyone to check, based on the issues and aspirations that emerged during November & December
March: update the Plan based on everyone’s feedback, before the Community Council submits it to the National Park and Council for ‘registration’
Scroll down to find out more.
GATHERING YOUR IDEAS
The first stage of the work is to gather everyone’s ideas about the future of Balloch, Haldane and Jamestown. We’re doing this in various ways, as described here.
The fundamental question we’re asking is: what do you want the communities to be like in the future?
If you were unable to make it to an event, please share your ideas online before Sunday 14 December.
Tell us what’s great and not-so-great about the community, your ideas, and your fears for the future.
ONLINE
Community drop-in events took place in Balloch and Haldane on the 28th and 29th November. 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.
Once the accompanying online survey has closed on 14 December, we’ll collate all the suggestions and publish them here.
COMMUNITY EVENTS
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?
Between October 2025 and January 2026, we’re tapping into the ideas and creativity of young people through Haldane Youth Services and local schools.
The three maps below contain suggestions from young people at Haldane Youth Services, Our Lady & St Patricks High School, and Balloch / St Kessogs Primary Schools. Red hearts indicate young people’s special places. Caption bubbles are their ideas for the future.
There will be more to follow in the New Year!
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’ll be chapping doors in the New Year to speak to businesses direct.
BUSINESSES
All the ideas and suggestions gathered during November and December will be shared on this website for everyone to see.
We’d also like to hold another community event in January/February to share and discuss everyone’s ideas.
Based on all that discussion, we’ll put together a draft of the plan for everyone to check in February. If you’d like a flavour of what that might look like, check out what other communities have done here.
Keep an eye on this website for more details!
