Nature’s revenge: how sand trashed Trump links

DONALD Trump may be bidding to be one of the most powerful men on Earth, but he can’t hold back the Aberdeenshire sand.

The would-be US president’s much-disputed golf course at Menie, on the northeast coast, has been damaged by mobile sand dunes, according to private emails from his staff seen by the Sunday Herald.

This has prompted critics to accuse Trump of failing to learn from the fabled King Canute, who highlighted human impotence by showing that he couldn’t command the tide.

When Trump won permission from the Scottish Government to build his golf course on a prized nature conservation site in 2008, he promised he would “stabilise the dunes”. But now they have proved to be just as restless as experts said they were.

An email from February this year, released under Freedom of Information law to the online Aberdeen Voice, reveals that Trump International Golf Links Scotland (TIGLS) has struggled to protect its greens from encroaching sand. A member of TIGLS staff, whose name has been blacked out, was in correspondence with Aberdeenshire Council following a site visit by council officials on February 19. TIGLS was describing photographs, which haven’t been released, of damage caused by storms.

The email said: “You will clearly see that the burn is full of sand which has caused the water levels to rise and flood and cause damage to our bridge, etc.

Trying to stop it is as futile as trying to command the tide. Mr Trump should have learned from King Canute. He is not God

You guys personally witnessed the sand blow/movement that was blowing sand into areas of the burn. And that was not even a dry windy day.”

Marram grass, which helps to stabilise dunes, had not been cleared, TIGLS said. “All these areas were pure sand caused by the storms which resulted in the sand blowing all over the 4th hole and filling up the burn on the far side,” the email continued. “As you witnessed we are doing our best to replant with marram to try and save/stabilise the dune and also protect our championship golf course.”

In response, an Aberdeenshire Council official, whose name has also been redacted, warned that similar problems could reoccur in the future. “These dune systems are very dynamic in nature and one of the features it is particularly noted for is the mobility of the dunes,” the official wrote.

The Aberdeenshire Green councillor Martin Ford, who was sacked as a committee chair after opposing Trump’s plans, argued that the golf course had done “immense damage” to the dune system. “I have many times seen the wind blowing large amounts of sand onto Mr Trump’s golf course,” he said.

“It’s an inevitable natural process. Trying to stop it is as futile as trying to command the tide. Mr Trump should have learned from King Canute. He is not God.”

Concerns were also expressed by Dr Tom Dargie, a leading expert on sand dunes who was commissioned, but then ignored by Trump.

There had been a “basic error in course construction” at Menie with the building of a culvert instead of a bridge at the fourth hole, he argued.

“It was already known to be an area of strong sand deposi- tion, both from sediment coming downstream and material brought in by storm tides. A culvert was certain to become blocked, inducing erosion of adjacent sand banks.”

TIGLS, however, said its golf course was “in great condition and has never been better”.

It pointed out that damage from last year’s “unprecedented” winter storms had forced other golf courses in the region to close.