Scottish Inquiry Underway

Filed in archive Golf Courses on June 12, 2008

The Donald arrived in Scotland on Wednesday to attend a public inquiry into his controversial golf resort project slated for Aberdeenshire.

After his plans for what has been described by critics as a "Disneyland-styled" resort were rejected by the Aberdeenshire Council's planning committee due to untold environmental damage, the Scottish government "stepped in" to take control of the situation.

The government announced it was going to fully examine the project - an entirely unusual action and one which undermined the local government completely.

But then, the Donald is good buddies with Scotland's first minister at the time and the Scottish government wants to appear pro-active when it comes to doing business with international big shots like Trump.

At any rate, a public inquiry was the price the opposition demanded and it is at that inquiry which begins Friday that Trump will argue his case.



But for the Scottish media today, Trump was all about his Scottish roots again, recalling his Scottish mother and how much he loves Scotland and feels Scottish when he comes.

Of course, he also said once again "there are so many other places you can go and you can invest and there are so many countries and I'm building in 73 different countries...". Just another little jabbing reminder that he could still grab his toys and go home, so Scotland had better wake up and give its collective head a shake.

But he's not going to go anywhere else because his trained professional developer's eye tells him the Menie Estate lands with their windswept dunes along the edge of the sea are the only place to build his dream golf resort.

The inquiry is expected to last a month.