Last night, a large group of people, of all backgrounds, came down to the now ruined Drumkinnon Bay (it has recently been all but destroyed) to gather together to link hands round the bay and to exchange views. I was honoured to speak to people who feel passionately about their area and Loch Lomond. I took away one very real perception. And that is that the National Park, our elected reps, all those with real authority and power in our area have let the people down. Some who came knew nothing about the processes of planning, some had no idea that the land was even being sold in the first place. This is a disgraceful indictment of the way we are governed by the interests of remote quangos that unfortunately are not so remote in the effects of their decision making and behind the scenes moves. Let there be no doubt here. This sale is as we always said it was, a done deal. This sale is underhand, and the reason it is underhand is not about corruption but silence. Silence permits evil. And it is evil to sell off riverbanks, loch shores and bays and ancient woods. It is evil to say to people, this is no longer yours, but have a job as a cleaner instead and expect the public to not only accept this but embrace it. And all those who are, at council level and any other level of public life minded to support this are being evil themselves. It is not evil in itself to promote development, not at all, it is however evil to be fully aware of processes, implications and outcomes yet deem it right not to share that with the public before expecting them to agree to the decisions of officers of state (for that is what they are) when those decisions are based on selling off public assets and disfiguring the very nature and heritage of a place as important as Balloch, as nationally important as Loch Lomond and as dear to people's hearts the world over as any monument or well loved public figure. The people have NOT been informed properly. What we have seen is box ticking compliance with rules that in no way whatsover are concomitant with the enormity of this land sale. This is no mere planning decision. This is a National Park, this the People's land and their heritage and memories. Skewed and molested in the press by association with former railways and a factory long gone. Let us state here and now. the image of this area was deliberately fomented by Scottish Enterprise to suit their objective, to sell of land they call brownfield. It is by no stretch of any imagination brownfield, only in the warped imagination of those that are hungry to buy it and those that are charged to sell it. The reality on the ground is trees, woods, shores, beaches, picnic areas, woodland paths and walks and access that has been freely enjoyed and if not officially adopted, adopted by the people and their regular use and enjoyment. A quango disfigured this reality to a false perception, aided and abetted by the proposed purchasers who have poisoned the waters with visions of a post industrial wasteland. How dare they. But they dared and it suits Scottish Enterprise. And it seemingly suits our local politicians and those that have the tools and information to inform the public. Why? What is it that drives them to sell this off and enable its sale? What have they got to hide that they are not calling major meetings with the public and PROPER full consultation. The charettes did not answer to this, and the PAN consultation is a sham. The whole process to date has been a sham and the people know it. They know that much. For the promises made to us, the people of Balloch, the visions we were led to believe in have all gone, swept to the side, eradicated in favour of a land grab, a sell off, a profiteering venture. This is Balloch's Clydeport. The transfer of public good and assets to private hands. Forget what is to be put on the ground, forget it entirely for the real issue here is the sale. The sale is immoral, it is an unconscionable disgrace. It is an evil. I challenge and charge the elected representatives, at all levels, of all colours, and the paid salaried officials of the two quangos, Scottish Enterprise and the National Park, to do their duty to the public. The public pay your wages. The public must not be fed and reared in the dark like mushrooms. Do your civic duty and properly inform, set up real and purposeful public meetings, explain all of this honestly and in terms that are not couched in corporate speak and the language of the civil servant bewitching the ignorant. If there is one citizen out there who is not informed, yet supports this, you have failed and are fraudulent in your role. Answer this challenge, or be shamed and damned as the facilitators of private profiteering over the commonweal. We thought in this nation of Scotland we did things differently, that we respected the commonweal, that we believed in community empowerment and the ability of the public to decide when fully informed and participating. Your silence tells us you, the officers, the reps, the people in the know that so far have done NOTHING to engage PROPERLY and inform and then speak, do not believe in that. Your complicit silence. Will you do good, or will you permit evil?