Is Trump bluffing over ‘abandoned’ course?
20th January, 2012 by Jenny Yu
The American billionaire, Donald Trump, has put plans to build a second golf course on the Menie Estate in Aberdeenshire on hold due to a dispute over a wind farm, however opponents believe he is “bluffing”.
The controversial £750 million resort, of which Trump claims he has so far spent £100 million on, was due to feature two golf courses, a five-star hotel and several other properties including a ‘super luxury clubhouse’, and so far one of the two courses has been built – plus a temporary clubhouse – which will officially open this summer.
However, building will not commence on any of the other facilities until the Scottish government makes a decision on an offshore wind farm project featuring 11 64-storey turbines that is set to be erected near to the golf venue.
The celebrity released a statement saying: “All further plans for future development, including the hotel, are now on hold until the Scottish government makes a decision on the application for the European offshore wind deployment centre submitted by Vattenfall and Areg.
“If the north-east of Scotland is serious about tourism and creating a global golf destination it cannot allow the coastline to be ruined by an ugly industrial park directly off the shoreline.”
A spokesman for Mr Trump denied suggestions that he was using the wind farm centre – a European Commission-backed testbed for advanced offshore wind turbine designs – as an excuse to stop spending on the resort.
“We are not abandoning anything,” he said.
However, local resident and fierce critic of Mr Trump, David Milne, responded: “We’re back to the usual ‘them or us’ argument.
“It is one failing golf course project versus an entire industry; an industry that has allowed Aberdeen to become one the busiest and most successful cities in the UK for the last 30 years and has the potential to keep Aberdeen thriving for the next 100 years if allowed to develop and grow as it should.
“So the choice is simple: it is between the children of the country growing up to be bed-changers and grass-cutters or growing up with the opportunity to be engineers, designers, developers and builders, along with the slew of unskilled trades that all real industry brings with it.
“The answer is quite clear – goodbye, golf course.
“I ask those with the authority to call Trump’s bluff and let him walk away.”
