Menie golf resort not for sale, says Donald Trump
Speculation about the future of the Menie golf resort intensified this week after Trump pulled the plug on the future development of his second course on the estate after losing his legal challenge against the Scottish Government’s decision to give the go ahead to the offshore wind farm in Aberdeen Bay he claims will spoil the views from his golf resort.
On Tuesday the tycoon announced that his global organisation would, in the immediate future, be focussing “all of our investment and energy” towards the development of a new golf resort development at Doonbeg on the Atlantic coast of the Republic of Ireland.
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Hide AdAnd yesterday his son, Donald Trump Junior, in Ireland to oversee the Doonbeg development, revealed that some parcels of land at Menie could be sold off by the Trump Organisation because it was no longer “prudent” to sink additional capital into the Menie estate.
A spokeswoman for the Trump organisation said today: “Trump International Golf Links, Scotland is not for sale - the championship golf course, practice facilities and luxury boutique house hotel (MacLeod House and Lodge) are fully operational and this investment will be protected.”
In a statement, issued from his New York offices, Trump said: “I am very proud of what I have done for Scotland in saving the magnificent dunes and creating what is considered to be, perhaps the single greatest golf course in the world today.
“Trump International Golf Links, Scotland has already brought tremendous business to Aberdeen and Scotland as a whole.”
And he claimed: “The wind turbines proposed for Aberdeen Bay, if built, will have a devastating impact on the environment, business, tourism and the cost of electricity and energy for home owners - not to mention the thousands of birds that will be killed on a monthly basis.”
Sarah Malone, the executive Vice President of Trump International Golf Links Scotland, said: “No world class developer would spend hundreds of millions of pounds building a luxury hotel and leisure resort with its guest rooms staring into a bay of ugly industrial wind turbines. “
She claimed the proposed location of the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre (EOWDC) in Aberdeen Bay, 1.5 miles from Menie, was “totally incompatible with a luxury, 5 star, leisure resort.”
And Ms Malone continued: “ If the region was truly serious about the growth of golf, leisure and tourism, this location would never have been entertained in the first place given its proximity to our property, as well as Royal Aberdeen and Cruden Bay Golf Clubs.
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Hide Ad“ After the millions already invested by Trump, and the significant benefits already reaped in the North east of Scotland, it is a disgrace that future phases have to be abandoned due to the terrible decisions made over a badly sited and economically unsound wind-farm proposal. “
She said: “They are mutually exclusive. It is either 30 jobs generated by the EOWDC or 4,000 jobs created by the Trump development. The only way that both projects can coexist is for the wind-farm to be moved up the coast or out to sea away from our development.”
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