The primary purpose of this Local Place Plan is to provide an up-to-date statement of current issues we face and our aspirations for the future, to help public bodies, landowners, businesses and funders consider how they can best support positive change in the area.

The plan is envisaged as covering a 5-10 year period until approximately 2030.

Delivery of the plan must be collaborative, with public bodies, private sector and local community working together for common purpose. Everybody needs to be involved if the plan is to become a reality.

Preparation of this Local Place Plan has been facilitated by Luss and Arden Community Council on behalf of the local community. We are grateful to Luss Estates Company and Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park for their financial support in preparing this Plan, to the many local people and organisations who have contributed to the plan’s preparation, and to Page\Park Architects and Nick Wright Planning for their professional support.

The first step in public consultation was the distribution of a survey in summer 2022. The content and appearance of the survey was guided by an independent steering group, made up of Community Council and Development Trust members, young parents, older people, teenagers, and business owners – among others. The result was a paper survey that was delivered to every house in the community, with extra copies in public places, and post-boxes to return them in multiple locations. This was accompanied by an online version, which was distributed by QR codes on buses, in shops, on social media, and in the local newspapers.

In total, 120 people shared their aspirations for Luss & Arden. Of those 120, 75 live in the local community. That means 28% of the local population answered the survey, which is high for a survey of this nature.

To read the full community response, you can visit the website at www.bit.ly/luss-arden-results

Following completion of the survey, the Community Council and consultant team invited the community to two events in Luss Village Hall to share the survey results, and agree what the priorities were and what to do about them.

The results of the public and business consultations, and economic research prepared by the consultant team, combine together into a ‘big picture’ of the issues within the community, and how they interact.

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The most significant challenge facing the local community is how to cope with a massive number of visitors each year whilst also offering good quality of life and opportunities for local residents.

Tackling that challenge and the vicious cycles described earlier, and creating a more sustainable, balanced and thriving community into the future, requires positive interventions designed to:

The below graphic illustrates how the aims and actions of the Local Place Plan might tackle some of the issues identified by the community, and start to break the cycle currently happening.

The aims and actions on the yellow notes are expanded upon in the next section, ‘priority actions’.

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The plan contains five priority areas, each with aims and actions. The five priority areas directly reflect the concerns and aspirations expressed in the community survey:

1. Life in the community
2. Population and homes
3. Visitor management
4. Getting about
5. Jobs and business

Each priority area proposes a series of aims and actions. This summary page contains only the aims, but the more detailed actions can be found in the complete report here: Local Place Plan.

Life in the community

For many years, the local community feels that action and investment has focused on visitors, with too little attention on sustaining the local community. We need to redress the balance and place more focus on the needs of the local community.

“Luss is now a resort not a village for residents … It should be remembered that Luss welcomes visitors when it is properly managed and has the infrastructure to cope. There are very few places in Scotland where the areas of car parks are about 3 times bigger than the village itself.”

Click the image below to read the accompanying list of actions, or refer to the complete plan here.

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Homes & population

Second homes and holiday lets have been eroding the housing stock for many years, to the extent that 1/3 of residential properties in the Community Council area are now holiday lets. The cost of housing has increased massively in recent years. The consequences are that younger people, local workers and families are priced out of the market, the population is ageing, and community facilities and spirit are threatened. Action is needed to avert this vicious cycle.

“More accessible housing is needed to make it a sustainable community ie. keep the school alive. Something needs to be done to reduce the number of properties being bought for holiday homes – it is killing the community.”

Click the image below to read the accompanying list of actions, or refer to the complete plan here.

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Visitor management

“Luss is full” is a sentiment heard repeatedly whilst preparing this plan – hardly a surprise when such the village receives over 850,000 visitors annually, overwhelming it for large parts of the year. To enable a better experience for both visitors and residents, this plan proposes better management of visitor numbers, anti-social behaviour on land and loch, visitor facilities and litter.

“Visitors are here to stay and are a vital part of the local economy, but the numbers must be better managed.”

Click the image below to read the accompanying list of actions, or refer to the complete plan here.

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Getting about

Moving around can be problematic in different ways for residents, workers, visitors and emergency services. Problems are most acute at weekends and in the summer due to the numbers of visitors and the volumes of traffic along the A82, the poor pedestrian infrastructure in Luss itself creates hazards throughout the year.

“It is very hard to get here if you can’t drive”

Click the image below to read the accompanying list of actions, or refer to the complete plan here.

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Jobs & business

This includes avoiding encouraging further business and footfall in the core of Luss village, whilst also recognising that the local community needs jobs and business opportunities in order to be a sustainable, thriving community.

“too many businesses taking over the village and now another business from Glasgow … is wanting to run a business in the middle of an already over-run village, not caring about the noise and obstructing the locals.”

“allow new businesses to develop out of the village to attract people away from the village”

Click the image below to read the accompanying list of actions, or refer to the complete plan here.

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Thank you again for your support throughout this process. Now comes the hard work of turning it into reality!

Making change happen will need a concerted effort from the local community, the National Park, the Council and others. When we say the local community, we mean everyone that lives and works here. This plan captures the priorities of the community as a whole. But if individuals don’t step up to help, those priorities won’t happen. So, if you want to see change happen, get involved: the Community Council and the Development Trust are more than willing to assist.

We have a similar message for public authorities: the National Park, Argyll and Bute Council, the Scottish Government, and others organisations referenced in the plan:

We need your support.