News Release
Ramblers Scotland has made a request, under the Freedom of Information Act, to help determine what happened at the early stages of Donald Trump's proposals for development at Menie in Aberdeenshire.
The request, made today to the Scottish Government, is for all correspondence between the former First Minister, Jack McConnell MSP, and the US developer.
RA Scotland Director, Dave Morris, said: "We think it is crucial to know what early signals were given to Mr. Trump by the previous First Minister when this project was first discussed with the government. Donald Trump has shown little willingness to compromise over this development. Is this because he had been led to believe there was no need for compromise and that his development would get an easy ride?"
“We are not opposed in principle to developing golf courses in this area but the root of the current situation is in Mr. Trump’s lack of willingness to adjust his proposals to take account of the environmental needs. We need to find out whether he was given any encouragement by the previous First Minister to take such a high handed approach to our planning system.”
“The Scottish Government may be open to legal challenge over this case and this is the sort of background information that would inform action of that kind.”
ENDS
More information:
Text of FoI request:
"This is a request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and the Environmental Information Regulations. Please supply copies of all correspondence, memos, file notes, reports, communications or other documentation, whether draft or final, relating to all communications between the Scottish Executive (including Ministers) during the period that Jack McConnell MSP was in office as First Minister, and the office of the US property developer, Donald Trump. For the avoidance of doubt, this includes communications between anyone acting on behalf of the former FM (including those within any department of the civil service) and anyone acting on behalf of Mr Trump (including any business associates of Mr Trump), as well as correspondence between the two individuals themselves."
Ramblers Scotland letter of objection raised the following issues:
Ramblers Scotland is not opposed in principle to the development of golf courses in this area, but we had serious concerns about this application -in particular the effect on the landscape. The massive development would adversely affect the landscape character and visual amenity of the area. The hotel and holiday apartment blocks would dominate the area, since they were proposed to be eight storeys in height. We would expect development to be more appropriate to its location within this undeveloped landscape.
It would have represented a dramatic overturning of planning policy at all levels from national to local. The proposal was contrary to the general aims of NPPG 13 Coastal Planning which directs new development to the developed rather than the undeveloped coast. This is backed up in the Aberdeenshire Structure and Local Plans, particularly in relation to their policies on new housing, and therefore the development would have been a departure from the strategic objectives of the Development Plan. In addition, SPP1 says, "decisions should be taken in line with local priorities and needs as identified in the Development Plan".
With so many adverse impacts and departures from strategic planning objectives, we believe the Council is justified in refusing permission for this development. We also had concerns about the potential loss of a large area of land for recreational access.
We would also expect to see constraints on development with regard to the protected dune system. In line with comments from Scottish Natural Heritage, we advocated bringing the golf course further inland from the SSSI and dune area, into the farmland west of the dunes. This would avoid damaging the site, and allow a protected coastal zone for recreational access, nature conservation and management of coastal erosion.
