The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Trump flying high
Donald Trump got a bird’s eye view of his Menie Estate golf course when his Boeing 757 jet took a detour over it yesterday.
Mr Trump left Aberdeen Airport at 2.45pm and flew out to the north-east coast beside the clubhouse before continuing to London. His son Donald Trump jun said: “He just wanted to see the course from a different vantage point.” Not so long ago, Donald Trump and Alex Salmond had nothing but nice things to say about one another.
But their relationship has become strained over plans to build a windfarm near the businessman’s championship golf course in Aberdeenshire.
Mr Trump has said previously that the first minister’s intervention when his Menie Estate proposals were bunkered by councillors was a major factor in his decision to stay and fight.
He even said he wanted the politician to open the course.
However, he has since begun a war of words with the SNP leader over wind energy.
The property developer recently announced a postponement on work at Menie after proposals for the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre (EOWDC) – an 11turbine windfarm in Aberdeen Bay – were submitted to Marine Scotland.
The proposal is a £150million joint venture by utility company Vattenfall, engineering firm Technip and Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group.
Mr Trump said Mr Salmond was “hellbent on destroying Scotland” with wind turbines.
“To destroy Scotland for a flawed idea would be disgraceful – so it has to be stopped,” he said. “I can’t stand by and see this great country destroyed.”
He claims the government previously gave him assurances that the windfarm would not go ahead.
Mr Salmond has always denied this.