Trump's plan for new homes in Scotland backed by officials

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Trump's plan for new homes in Scotland backed by officials

Controversial proposal for 550 luxury homes near golf club recommended for approval

Severin Carrell Scotland editor
Wed 20 Mar 2019 14.46 GMT

Planners in Aberdeenshire have backed Donald Trump’s controversial plans to build up to 550 luxury homes near his golf course, despite a record number of objections.

The council’s planning officers said the scheme, due to be built in phases at a cost of around £25m, had “considerable merit” for the local economy and recommended that it is approved by the council next month, subject to conditions.

But the US president’s opponents furiously accused planners of overlooking more than 20,000 objections, including those from the local community council, transport officials and 18,722 people who signed a petition organised by the online platform 38 Degrees.

Cllr Martin Ford, Trump’s most prominent critic on the council, said the proposals ignored the promises made in 2008 when Trump first won permission to build a £750m golfing and holiday resort on the site, overriding legal protections for its rare coastal dunes.

Ford said the 2008 masterplan was being used as a Trojan horse to allow Trump to build a profitable housing estate, without any of the the extra jobs, amenities and investment he promised. The housing plans also breached a series of conditions in the local development plan, he said.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/mar/20/trump-plan-new-homes-scotland-backed-officials-aberdeenshire

[msongs]

1. follow the $$ nt

[TreasonousBastard]

2. Huh? After he fucked them over the last time, they're still letting him pull shit? How did...

the windmill lawsuit go?

And hasn't Aberdeen depended on North Sea oil for jobs? Are the oilfields running dry?

[Denzil_DC]

3. The council's run by a Tory/Lib Dem/Independent coalition.

The planning officers are nominally non-partisan, but politicians in the area, which is seriously short of funds, have a history of sucking up to Trump.

I know a couple who're involved in planning up in Aberdeenshire. According to them, the economics of Trump's Menie golf development didn't make any sense without an extensive housing element. But the scale of investment to date is far, far short of what was promised when Trump first gained planning approval, and the idea of plonking so many houses in a rural area without the accompanying investment in amenities and infrastructure is ridiculous.

On the other hand, Trump had threatened to go away in a huff after the Vattenfall experimental offshore windfarm, which he bitterly opposed, was granted approval a few years ago.

A similar situation is playing out at Trump's Turnberry golf course in Ayrshire, where a major housing development on farmland is slated.