Scepticism as Donald Trump claims no evictions over Menie

Published on Monday 31 January 2011 15:01

FAMILIES living with the threat of being evicted from their homes at Donald Trump's Menie estate have cautiously welcomed the tycoon's announcement that he has ruled out the use of compulsory purchase orders to help build his £750 million golf resort.

But they have said they will only take his word once they receive personal written commitments from Mr Trump, guaranteeing that he will not move to have them forced from their homes.

And David Milne, one of the four homeowners who has been living with the threat of compulsory purchase for the past two years, challenged the tycoon's claim that his organisation had never approached Aberdeenshire Council to use their CPO powers in connection with his Menie estate development.

He produced a copy of a letter, sent to the local authority in March 2009, by lawyers acting for Mr Trump, in which a senior partner of the firm requested the council to "exercise its powers of compulsory purchase" to acquire eight plots of land on behalf of Trump International Golf Links Scotland, including the four homes of the Menie residents.

Mr Milne said: "I am sceptical to say the least. We have heard a lot of propaganda and misinformation from this individual and his organisation before now and we have no reason to believe this is anything other than that.

"And what really annoys me is that he claims they have never asked for CPOs to be used against us. And yet I have copy of a letter from his lawyers to Aberdeenshire Council, formally requesting that CPO powers be used."

Mr Milne said: "Until I see a formal written retraction of their earlier request to Aberdeenshire Council, I will have no reason to believe this statement from him to be true."

But he added: "Mr Trump was never going to win in his bid to use CPOs against us and this has been a PR disaster for him. And now he trying to reclaim the high ground. "

Molly Forbes, an 86-year-old pensioner who lives on the Menie estate also questioned the tycoon's statement.

She said: "I'll believe it when I see it in writing - but not before then. I don't believe a word that comes out of his mouth."

And her daughter-in-law Sheila, the wife of Michael Forbes, the salmon fisherman who has been branded a "village idiot" by the American tycoon, said: "We need some proof in writing before we can believe anything about his. If it is true it will be a big relief. It will give us peace of mind. But I just suspect that he is doing this because he knew he would never get the support to use the CPOs against us."

Mr Trump said in a statement: "We have consistently said that we have no interest in compulsory purchase and have never applied for it."It remains part of the Scottish planning process but we have not, and will not, request that Aberdeenshire Council use their CPO powers to purchase houses.

"The only reason CPO was even brought up by our opposition is they have consistently lost on every other front and this is the only way for them to continue to gain free publicity on the back of the Trump name."

He added that a combination of landscaping and planting would be used to "eliminate the negative visual impact of the poorly maintained and unkempt properties that border our development ".