The dunes at Donald Trump’s Aberdeenshire golf lodge are expected to lose their status as a nationally important protected surrounding. Government watchdog Scottish Natural Heritage has recommended that Menzie links be eliminated from an existing website of particular clinical interest (SSSI). The Trump Organisation reacted by calling the circulate a “set-up.” SNH concluded Mr. Trump’s golf course had “destroyed” the dune device, inflicting permanent habitat loss. byIt stated the employer had spent tens of millions on the SSSI location’s care, safety, and renovation.
SNH stated it become “unusual” to put off an SSSI from the listing, but there was no longer a motive to shield the dunes. Scottish Green birthday celebration co-convener Patrick Harvie, who campaigned against the development, said: “It has ruined, destroyed, gubbed, the kind of natural surroundings that those paper protections were there to shield.” Donald Trump formally performed his first round on the Trump International Golf Links, north of Aberdeen, in July 2012, more than four years earlier than becoming US president.
It is in part constructed on Foveran Links – an SSSI at the beginning listed as one of the most excellent examples of a “dynamic” cell dune machine inside the UK. Before the direction turned into built, the dune system moved north at high speeds – up to eleven meters consistent with yr – across a place of approximately 15 hectares. SNH warned a making plans inquiry that the improvement might seriously harm the SSSI. Still, permission turned into granting on the premise that the potential financial gain could outweigh environmental harm.
Two years ago, SNH concluded that the site’s special functions were “partly destroyed” without a prospect of healing. It stated there had been some permanent habitat loss – for example, wherein tracks, tees, fairways, and greens have been built. There had been other habitat modifications where cell dunes had been stabilized thru the planting of marram grass. SNH is now beginning a three-month consultation on the formal technique of delisting the SSSI.
Sally Thomas, SNH’s director of humans and nature, stated: “The identification of SSSIs is uncommon, however in this case, we have discovered there’s not a purpose of guarding the dunes at Menzie as they do not include enough of the unique, natural features for which they had been detailed.” Ms. Thomas said SNH labored with developers to make specific habitats, and flora and fauna were covered while improvement work was undertaken. She stated: “Most of the time, development can take vicinity without unfavorable essential natural functions, but this become now not the case in this instance.
