Bid to drive golf course planned for dunes out of bounds
LEADING conservation charities have joined forces to prevent an ‘irreplaceable’ piece of Scotland’s heritage from being transformed into a golf course by an American billionaire.
Investor Mike Keiser has submitted an application to Highland Council to construct a golf course on Coul Links, on the Sutherland coast.
But the Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT), RSPB Scotland, Buglife Scotland, Plantlife Scotland, Butterfly Conservation Scotland and the Marine Conservation Society say the dunelands are internationally important.
The conservation alliance has now called on the public to support their objections to the ‘proposed destruction’ of the natural jewel.
Coul Links’ dune ecosystem is protected by multiple conservation designations.
It is also home to a wide range of plants, birds, insects and other animals, which are either unique to that part of Sutherland, rare or in severe decline elsewhere in the UK.
Jonathan Hughes, chief executive of SWT, said: ‘Coul Links is a truly exceptional stretch of wild, unspoilt coast.
‘It seems extraordinary that this internationally important dune system is under threat from yet another golf course proposal. Almost a decade after the approval of the environmentally damaging Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeenshire, it is unthinkable that we could lose another irreplaceable duneland to a development which is clearly not needed.’
Coul Links is part of the Dornoch Firth and Loch Fleet Special Protection Area, which has been designated for its importance to foraging osprey in the summer and internationally important wintering populations of Icelandic greylag goose and bar-tailed godwit.
Davie Black of Plantlife said: ‘The proposed destruction of Coul Links would be a disaster.’
A spokesman for the developers said: ‘We have employed a broad range of ecological and environmental experts to come up with a golf course layout that would have minimal impact on existing species, habitats and landscape features.’
‘Irreplaceable duneland’