Despite calls for a boycott from conservationists, US tycoon Donald Trump was joined by two top golfers in teeing off at the opening of his controversial £1bn golf course on the Menie Estate in Aberdeenshire.
The Scottish Wildlife Trust urged golfers Colin Montgomerie and Martin Laird not to play at the Trump International Golf Links as it was built on a stretch of 4,000 year-old coastal sand dunes that make up a section of the Foveran Links Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a status that should protect the site from development.
Despite fierce protest from environment groups, Trump was given the go-ahead for "stabilisation" of the dunes to construct the resort in 2008, as Scottish ministers deemed the economic benefits to outweigh the environmental costs.
An action group, "Tripping Up Trump", who previously tried to stop Aberdeenshire Council from serving compulsory purchase orders on families and other people who owned land on parts of the site, produced a documentary following the development. "You've Been Trumped" is described by its makers as "a blistering big-screen account of the destruction of one of Britain's last remaining wilderness areas."
However, environmental concerns could prevent Trump from completing the final stages of his development. The businessman reportedly considered moving the course to Ireland after hearing about plans to construct an offshore windfarm 2km away from the site.
Mr Trump said he remains confident that the offshore wind farm proposal in the North Sea will be rejected and plans to expand the resort will continue. He said, "As soon as we find out that they are not going to destroy Scotland by building windmills all over the place we will start immediately on the hotel. We're all set with it."
He continued, "I don't think the wind farm will happen because it will be the destruction of Aberdeen and the destruction of Scotland ultimately. People are seeing that all over the world wind farms are being abandoned, so I can't imagine that they will put up these ridiculous monsters that don't make economic sense and destroy the environment."
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