Delay over Trump plan for temporary clubhouse

ABERDEENSHIRE councillors yesterday postponed making a decision on a controversial application by Donald Trump to erect a temporary clubhouse, made out of galvanised steel, at his Menie estate golf resort.

Members of the local planning authority, the Formartine area committee, had been expected to back the recommendations of senior planners and approved the Trump Organisation’s application to build a temporary structure at the course until the permanent Gothic-inspired clubhouse is ready in the spring of 2014.

But councillors voted to defer their final decision until a special meeting on 13 December to give them more time to study a late report on the application by Robert Gray, the council’s head of planning and building standards.

The report revealed that the Trump Organisation’s application had attracted more the 800 objections. But Mr Gray, in his report, had recommended that councillors approve the proposals for the construction of a temporary clubhouse as well as a permanent car park.