More details have been announced about the golf links that Donald Trump plans to build near Aberdeen – first reported in GBN on 23rd January 2006 http://www.golfbusinessnews.com/news/news.asp?storyid=2725
Donald Trump, whose passion for golf is well documented and whose mother was born in Scotland, plans to design and build a spectacular golf development on an 800-acre stretch of stunning sand dunes at Menie Estate, Aberdeenshire. The £300m golf development could bring £150m to the local economy and create 400 jobs.
The Trump Organization, which already has $200 million invested in the U.S. golf industry, is in the preliminary stages of a planning application to build the multi-million-dollar project located just minutes outside Europe’s oil capital, Aberdeen, and close to world renowned links courses such as Cruden Bay, Royal Aberdeen and Murcar.
The development, which will be known as Trump International Golf Links, Scotland, will be comprised of two championship golf courses, a five-star hotel with associated facilities, a state-of-the-art golf academy and a turf grass research centre. The development will also include a mixed use residential element.
But the plans could be threatened by plans for an offshore wind farm off the coast of Aberdeen which would affect the view from the proposed hotel bedrooms and Mr Trump is also said to be heading for a fight with local environmental campaigners. According to ‘The Scotsman’ newspaper, the Trump Organisation chose this site after looking at 211 other sites around the world, and Donald Trump has said that he would pull out of the deal immediately if it became mired in planning concerns.
Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group (AREG), which hopes for a meeting with the Trump organisation, wants to build several wind turbines off the coast in a £100m project, south of the intended golf development. Planners will now have to assess the best way forward for the golf and offshore wind farm developments.
Iain Todd, of AREG, told BBC Scotland: “I do not think the problem is possibly as great as Mr Trump believes. What we would like to do is meet the Trump organisation and discuss our programme with them. Our design and layout are evolving all the time.”
Meanwhile Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has stressed the local countryside would have to be protected.
If these difficulties are overcome, the courses will be Donald J. Trump Signature Designs, in association with Tom Fazio II, nephew of the legendary American golf course architect Tom Fazio, and his firm, Tom Fazio II, LLC.
“Mr Trump was committed to identify a world-class traditional links site in the Home of Golf and Menie Estate was chosen because it satisfies all of the strict project criteria set out by The Trump Organization,” said Ashley Cooper, executive vice president, acquisitions and development for The Trump Organization. “Our goal is to create the greatest links golf courses in Scotland as part of a golf development that will become the finest in Europe, if not the world.”
Membership details for Trump International Golf Links, Scotland will be announced in the future. Cooper confirmed that The Trump Organization is committed to maintaining strong ties with the local community and to working closely with all of the various representatives to ensure that the development would integrate into and bring maximum benefit to the region.
Trump International Golf Links, Scotland www.trumpgolfscotland.com
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