Despite apparently getting the nod from Aberdeenshire Council's Formartine area committee nearly a year ago, to build a massive 36 hole golf complex on the Menie Estate in Aberdeenshire, legal matters and objections from environmental groups such as The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Scotland meant that an enquiry had to be concluded before permission was passed.
The RSPBS objected on the ground that the golf development would destroy a natural system of sand dunes that are unique to this part of the Scottish coast.
The RSPBS is quoted on their campaign site for saving the shifting sands: "We do not object to all golf developments (indeed, many golf courses can be good for wildlife), we object to the Trump International design because it will cause huge amounts of unnecessary and avoidable damage.
Whilst any development on the dune system will have an environmental impact, this could be significantly reduced if the SSSI area was avoided."
The (former) SSSI site will now be developed creating 1,400 new jobs in an area that was formerly dependant on the declining oil and gas industry.
The financial Times quotes Scotland's first minister Alex Salmond: “I believe that the economic and social benefits for the north-east of Scotland substantially outweigh any environmental impact, and that this is demonstrated in the evaluation of the three reporters to the public local inquiry."
The Scottish Wildlife Trust, who also opposed the scheme report Jonny Hughes, Head of Policy at the Scottish Wildlife Trust as saying:
“The Scottish Wildlife Trust is extremely disappointed about this decision.
We have stood alongside RSPB as well as the Scottish Government’s own conservation advisors (Scottish Natural Heritage) and the many concerned members of the local community in demanding that the Government assesses the development not only on its economic merits, but also on the considerable detrimental environmental impacts.
This is a huge blow for the environment and sustainable development. The crazy thing is that there could easily have been both golf and environmental protection at Menie. Instead, Government Ministers have failed to deliver the sustainable part of their professed central purpose of ‘sustainable economic growth’."
The creation of the golf complex will realise a dream for Trump whose family history is tied up in this area of Scotland; Trump's mother Mary Anne was born in Tong on the Isle of Stornoway.
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