Greenvoice

The Telegraph,  22/11/2007

Environmentalists have lost the first round of a campaign to prevent a proposed £1bn golf project from destroying a part of Britain's most remarkable coastlines.

The local planning committee voted 7 - 4 in favour of US tycoon Donald Trump's plan to wipe out a pristine Aberdeenshire seaside stretch by developing two championship courses, almost 1,000 holiday homes, 500 private houses and an eight-storey hotel.

But media coverage focused on another issue - a local farmer who is refusing to sell his 25 acres on the site of one of the courses proposed for the Menie estate, near Balmedie village.

The stand-off echoed the plot of acclaimed 1983 film, Local Hero, about an oil refinery threat to a Scottish beauty spot.

The developers must have been pleased that this diverted attention from the real issue - that the golf project will eat into 60 acres of one of the UK's top five sand dune systems.

Michael Forbes' land has no wildlife value and, in any case, the Trump camp made it clear its acquisition was not essential to the project; simply, it can take shape around the farmer's plot so he is, apparently, welcome to stay.

However, the developer is not so accommodating when it comes to the scenic Foveran Links - which, with the help of regularly fierce winds, have been shifting and changing shape for millennia, forming into dramatic towering peaks.

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The Menie estate's sand dune expanse, part of Scotland's largest stretch of this habitat, are not like most other UK links, explained David Bale, area manager of Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), recently.

"If they are not able to continue to shift and change, what makes them special will be lost. As the development of a golf course at this location would cause such significant damage to the Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), we have maintained our objection to this part of the proposal."

SNH along with RSPB Scotland and the Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT) argue the whole project could be fitted into adjacent farmland and are resisting the move to develop into the 12 miles of unbroken dunes between Aberdeen's northern edge and the River Ythan.

SWT national planning co-ordinator Paul Gallagher said: "The advice we provided was ignored completely. The developers could have sited the proposal away from designated and sensitive dune habitat but they failed to consider how the environmental impact could be diminished."

The site's scientific status is enhanced by interesting plant communities; species such as the curved sedge, Carex maritima, and small adderstongue, Ophioglossum azoricum, may not be particularly eye-catching but are part of the location's character.

Invertebrate residents, including butterflies such as the dark green fritillary, add further distinction. Shelduck, lapwing, redshank and skylark are among nesting birds; with some being progressively squeezed out of intensively farmed countryside, they amount to further significance.

Overall, however, the dynamic dunescape is the star. One especially striking features is an awesome sand dome, 600 metres long and 400 metres wide, that is slowly creeping northwards. Fourteen metres is the longest it is known to have travelled in a year; usually the distance is rather less.

If Mr Trump has his way it will creep no more. Under the proposals, it will be flattened, grassed over and in future wealthy golfers - the only variety many local people suspect will be able to afford the anticipated high fees - will play holes 10 to 18 there.

What excites conservationists about the shifting sands clearly leaves the New York real real estate maestro cold. That was evident when he declared: "We are stabilising the land - the environment will be much superior when we are finished ...."

But with promises of 6,000 jobs and £60m being pumped into the Scottish economy annually, his case won the day. As one supporting councillor, Rob Merson, put it: "It is an opportunity we cannot let slip through our fingers."

Even if that view is backed by Aberdeenshire Council's Infrastructure Services Committee on November 30, it will not end the campaigners' fight. Scottish government ministers may well have the final say - and dune defenders hope they will heed SNH, their own environmental advisory body.

The point is emphasised in RSPB Scotland's campaign leaflet: "The SSSI must be protected. This is non-negotiable. What happens here is a benchmark test of the legislation that protects the natural heritage in Scotland."

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/11/22/eagolf122.xml

 

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