Trump 'ready to rock and roll' at Menie in November

The target date, announced by son Donald Trump Junior during a visit to the Menie estate in Aberdeenshire, will mark the start of the battlelines being drawn between the Trump empire and environmentalists who have warned the 1 billion development will destroy the "jewel in the crown" of Scotland's shifting sand dune systems.

The back nine holes of the main championship course are to be laid out within the dunes in the Foveran links site of special scientific interest (SSSI).

And it is almost certain some environmental campaigners will take direct action in a bid to prevent the work going ahead when the golf course construction teams move on to the sprawling estate.

But Mr Trump Junior yesterday insisted the environment of the area would be the main beneficiary once work on the course, one of two planned 18-hole layouts, begins.

He said: "We are ready to rock and roll. Pending final approval from the council, we are ready to go forward with the first golf course on 1 November.

"We are building the most incredible golf course in the world. The second course will be almost equally so, given the land we have. And we are going to make the land environmentally sound."

Initial work would involve stabilising the dunes by planting maram grass. And he added: "I would love to do groundbreaking this Fall with my father driving that first ball down that first hole. I would love to see the course completed by 2011."

Mr Trump accepted that some form of protest was likely when work begins. He said: "We know about the protesters. Any time there is development, there are people who protest. But there are also thousands of people and businesses and locals and people who are going to need these jobs who are in favour of us."

The Trump Organisation has submitted a separate application to Aberdeenshire to begin work on the main championship course.

This is expected to go before the council on 1 October at a meeting where councillors are also due to debate proposals to use compulsory purchase orders to buy five properties bordering the development site. Five owners, including Malcolm Forbes, a prominent opponent of the development, are refusing to sell.

Malcolm Glegg, co-ordinator of Tripping Up Trump, the group formed to oppose the Menie development, said: "There are people who are extremely unhappy about Trump's refusal to compromise on the SSSI. If Donald Trump doesn't start compromising with locals over the development then there may be some direct action by some people – not the campaign group."