Trump golf plan council accused of breaking law

Published on Monday 21 April 2008 20:28

ABERDEENSHIRE Council was yesterday accused of breaking the law by deciding to back plans for Donald Trump's £1 billion golf resort – after the scheme had been thrown out by its own planning committee.

The claim has been made by John Agnew, a leading Scottish town and country planner, in a legal submission to the Scottish Government's public inquiry into the controversial Menie Estate development. Mr Agnew acts on behalf of four members of Sustainable Aberdeenshire, the protest group formed to oppose the golf resort.

He stated that officials and councillors from the north-east authority would be acting beyond their legal powers if they were to appear at the inquiry in any role other than to speak in support of the decision of the council's infrastructure services committee (ISC) to reject the Trump scheme.

On 29 November, Mr Trump's plan to site two championship golf courses and a major housing and leisure development on a fragile stretch of the Aberdeenshire coastline was thrown out on the casting vote of Martin Ford, the chairman of the planning authority.

On 12 December, at a special meeting of Aberdeenshire Council, Mr Ford was sacked as the full council gave its backing to the controversial application. But the application, by then, had been called in by Scottish ministers.

Mr Agnew argues in his submission that the application was not in front of the council for determination, whether or not it had been called-in, and "it could not lawfully be revisited".

He states: "The ISC acted lawfully for and on behalf of the council. The council's position at the public local inquiry into the called-in application is to be heard in support of the reasons for refusal of the application referred to.

"The council's apparent intended position to appear against the act lawfully done in the name of the council is unlawful, irrational and amounts to a procedural impropriety. It is … an absurdity that the ISC members have been put in the position of appearing at the inquiry, in support of the reasons for refusal, without professional representation."

Mr Agnew claims: "The absurdity arises from the fact that ISC members supporting a decision taken on behalf of the council will be opposed by the council acting unlawfully by contradicting its own decision and by abandoning those who were delegated to act on behalf of the council."

An Aberdeenshire Council spokesman said councillors would be asked to consider their position on the Trump application at a meeting on Thursday to "ensure that the council's position is clear during the public inquiry".