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Sid is a retired biology teacher. Living in the Loch Lomond-side village of Balloch he has had a lifelong commitment to looking after the natural environment.
In 2022 Sid was elected by the people of Balloch and West Loch Lomond to be their representative on the board of the Park Authority – winning more votes than all the other candidates put together. The board's role is scrutiny, and this is what board members are there to do: to “oversee the work of the Chief Executive and National Park staff”, as the Park Authority’s website says.
Crucially, when he joined the Board, Sid disclosed: “I am disabled due to my dyslexia. I need hard copies of papers to read. I have been told I am on other spectra too. This causes me to be blunt, speak my mind, the opposite of ‘social intelligence’.”
For years Sid tried to raise issues and ask questions about the handling of the highly controversial Flamingo Land planning proposal, without getting proper answers. Sid was worried that the Park Authority, as the planning authority responsible for determining the developer’s planning application, had a conflict of interest, because Park staff appeared to have been involved in the prior selection of Flamingo Land as the preferred bidder for the site in question. But his was a lone voice.
In August 2024, shortly before the Board was due to finally determine the application, Sid wrote to all Board members to repeat his concerns. But rather than investigate the matters Sid was raising, the Convener of the Board reported him to the Standards Commission for Scotland, because of the way he raised them, claiming he had been rude and disrespectful, in breach of the Park Authority’s code of conduct.
In February 2026, the Standards Commission held a ‘hearing’ while Sid was medically unfit to attend. He was not even represented at this so-called hearing. Nevertheless, the Standards Commission found him guilty of misconduct and suspended him from the Board for 6 months.
Board members are paid a fixed rate for the time they spend on Board matters. Sid's suspension was therefore the equivalent of a fine of over £4,000 – for standing up for his home in Balloch and doing his job.
Put simply, Sid believes, as do many others, that the Park Authority and the Standards Commission have conspired to silence an elected representative asking lawful questions – as is his duty. Questions that Park Authority staff still do not want to answer, questions that go to the heart of how Scotland’s precious shared resources are being managed by public bodies on our behalf.
Sid was neither rude or disrespectful that's just
Sid’s fight matters to every one of us in Scotland, and he needs our help.
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Six months’ suspension for being ‘rude’, when all he was trying to do was act in the public interest, is outrageous. But the matter has not stopped there.
In March the Standards Commission gave Sid notice that they are holding a SECOND hearing into his conduct. This time it is the Chief Executive of the Park Authority who has complained. It is another David versus Goliath situation with the Standards Commission again proceeding to a hearing despite knowing that Sid is incapacitated.
There is every chance that Sid will be unable to present his case at this second hearing – just as happened in February – and that he will face further suspension, docking of wages or even harsher punishment this time – unless people like you give him a helping hand.
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Aged 75 and unwell, Sid Perrie is now fighting against the Standards Commission on two fronts, because of two complaints from the Park Authority about the same conduct, and both the Commission and the Park Authority are backed up by teams of lawyers paid for out of public funds.
It is a chilling demonstration of how, in Scotland 2026, an elected representative raising valid concerns on behalf of local voters can be silenced by public authorities using public money.
Sid needs funds to pursue his fight. He will fight on alone if he must, but his health has already taken a heavy toll – he is still signed off work. He has already forked out a four-figure sum to lodge a well-argued appeal in the first case – but as things stand he will have no legal support when his appeal comes to court in May.
And that’s before even considering how he will fight the second complaint, when it comes to a hearing before the Standards Commission in June.
He needs a legal team to give him a chance of winning against the might of the public sector. Please donate to his crowdfunder and help pay for lawyers to argue his case.
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Attached is a collection of detailed articles from ParksWatchScotland. These set out, for readers with a bit more time, not only the concerns that Sid has raised about the actions of the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority – in relation to Flamingo Land and other matters – but also how the Park Authority, with the help of the Standards Commission for Scotland, has relentlessly pursued and bullied him.
Please donate as much as you can afford to fight for justice for Sid Perrie.
https://parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/11/13/how-democracy-in-the-loch-lomond-and-trossachs-national-park-is-being-destroyed-the-sid-perrie-story-1/
https://parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/11/22/how-democracy-in-the-loch-lomond-and-trossachs-national-park-is-being-destroyed-the-sid-perrie-story-2/