Former MoD torpedo site cleared for major tourism redevelopment

The decision marks positive progress towards bringing this large derelict site back into positive use, which has long been a blight on the landscape and wider community.

The 11-hectare site has lain largely derelict since the torpedo station ceased operations in 1986, having opened in 1912. As a result of decades of inactivity, the site on the banks of Loch Long has become an ongoing source of frustration for residents, attracting fly-tipping, littering and anti-social behaviour despite the landowner’s steps to secure the site.

Proposed by the applicant Ardnagal Estates, the development includes 14 holiday homes, 34 holiday lodges, a 34-bedroom hotel, 20 glamping pods, 6 motorhome pitches, an outdoor play area, and associated parking and native landscaping.

The development aims to deliver a range of accommodation and leisure services that will complement and enhance existing provision in the area, without placing pressure on the surrounding landscape, biodiversity or local infrastructure.

Claire Chapman, Planning & Access Committee chair, said: “The approval of this long-standing derelict site’s redevelopment is a significant step forward in addressing what has been a blight on both the local community and the environment. The site has been identified in both the existing Local Development Plan, which guides new development in the National Park, and in the community’s Local Place Plan.

“Permission for this application also secures commitments from the developer to protect and enhance the site’s natural environment, ensuring the area’s landscape and environmental sensitivities are safeguarded for the long term, and will help bring the site back into positive use. That is a very welcome outcome for people, and for nature.”

Biodiversity will be meaningfully improved through the removal of invasive non-native plant species, such as Himalayan balsam and Japanese knotweed and extensive native planting. The development will also open up public and community access to the loch through a revitalised pier, and new leisure services, including a play park will add family-friendly amenity for residents and visitors.

The site’s location also makes it well-placed to encourage visitors to explore beyond the busiest parts of the Park, helping to ease congestion around some of the most popular hotspots while extending the benefits of sustainable tourism across the Park.

The development reflects priorities identified by residents through their own Local Place Plan - demonstrating community-led planning delivering tangible, place-based positive change for people and nature in the National Park.

The delivery of the proposed development is now for the applicant to drive forward. The National Park Authority’s approval is subject to a Section 75 legal agreement and a number of conditions to ensure all planning requirements are met in this sensitive location.