The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Mixed response to news of Trump’s housing plan
Bid to build 500 homes at Menie looks likely to face opposition
Battle lines are being drawn over multi-million-pound plans to build 500 homes at Donald Trump’s Aberdeenshire golf course.
Proposals for the Trump Estate, which includes luxury housing and 50 hotel cottages, at Menie, near Balmedie, were unveiled yesterday.
They were accompanied by predictions of 2,000 construction jobs, almost 300 full-time posts and £250 million for the region’s economy.
Aberdeenshire’s tourism body said the scheme will “strengthen the appeal” of the north-east while Gordon MP Colin Clark hailed the investment pledge as “very good news for the economy”.
But Martin Ford, the councillor who came close to sinking Mr Trump’s golf course in 2007, thinks it will be rejected.
Mr Ford used his casting vote as chairman of Aberdeenshire Council’s planning committee to reject the proposal, but this was overturned after being called in by the Scottish Government.
Mr Ford said the housing proposals had been suggested since 2006, amid threats that they would not go ahead.
“Plans have been announced, changed, withdrawn or just not implemented,” he said.
Chris Foy, chief executive of Visit Aberdeenshire, said the development would “strengthen Aberdeen’s appeal to visitors from across the UK and from around the world”.
Menie resident David Milne was not convinced, saying: ““I don’t think people are willing to take promises made by the Trump Organisation about jobs and economic benefits at face value in the way they did before.” He also raised fears that the construction process would “make life difficult” for those who live nearby.
However, the executive vice-president of Trump International Golf Links Scotland, Sarah Malone, said of Mr Milne: “He has been a vexatious opponent of the project since its inception and cannot concede that he is wrong.
“We are bringing forward major investment plans to further prosper the land surrounding his property.”