There used to be a boundary sign at the east end of Callander, which said: "Beauty is Strength. Welcome to Callander."

Under the planning administration of the National Park the eastern approach to the town has become anything but beautiful. Unless residents and business owners act immediately to try to persuade the Scottish Parliament to send the Local Plan for Callander back to the drawing board, things will get much, much worse. The town's special qualities - its natural and built environment, and its character - will be lost. And if those are lost then our economy will collapse. Just like the sign said, "Beauty is Strength". Tourists don't go to prefab suburbs.

The Local Plan hasn't even been ratified, yet two of the proposed developments (Tannochbrae and the Old Telephone Exchange) have already gone ahead. An application for outline planning consent for another, major housing development (Churchfields), is currently under consideration by the Park Authority. If that one is given the go-ahead, not only will the town lose an important and precious amenity but the Park will also have paved the way for ribbon development southwards along the Mollands Road. Where will it end?

There is a tendency in Callander to assume that the Local Plan is a done deal and that there's no point in kicking up a fuss about it. But that kind of defeatism is exactly what allows this kind of assumption to become a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Although Callander ECG's aims are to do with forcing a fundamental re-think on the Local Plan, in tandem with those is a deeply-felt desire to motivate people in Callander to fight back and reclaim control of our town from those who have, for so long, chipped away at our democratic right to decide what's best for our community and our environment.

We're not rabble-rousers - we are a group of volunteers from all sorts of backgrounds and we have nothing to gain financially or politically from this campaign. But we are angry - angry with the Park and other bodies who have allowed the Local Plan to progress unchallenged; and we're also angry (please forgive us) with local people who have complained bitterly about the Plan in private but have done nothing to challenge it in public.

Our founder members did challenge the Local Plan. So did a good number of other local people. Together, we have devoted an enormous amount of time trying to defend Callander. And now we want you to come on board to help us. The time for sticking your head in the sand is over. If you want Callander to be protected against catastrophic over-development then you're going to have to put some time and effort into saving it.

Beauty is strength. Numbers are strength, too. Come on, please get your head out of the sand and join us.

Thank you.