GEO slams start of Trump works

23 November 2009

Aberdeenshire Council’s decision to grant permission for preliminary construction work on the Trump International Golf Links project has been criticised by the Golf Environment Organisation

“One of Europe's most significant mobile sand sheets will now be dressed in hessian and grassed over, all in the name of golf - and housing,” said GEO chief executive Jonathan Smith. “This is a great setback. After all that golf has done for the protection of Scotland's coastline over the last 250 years, we now witness a high profile golf development being responsible for the damage of one of the country’s most valuable sand dune ecosystems. The game has generally evolved with the coastal environment, has certainly protected strips of links land from harder forms of development, and could widely be considered to have done more to enhance the Scottish coastal landscape than detract from it.

"However, with modern day levels of public awareness and scientific understanding of the fundamental physical, psychological and cultural value of intact and functioning ecosystems, combined with the increasing rarity of such sites, the move to stabilise the most sensitive Menie Estate sand dunes goes firmly against the grain. Unfortunately, the original decision by the Scottish government has paved the way for the destruction of a priority ecosystem.”

Professor Paul Rooney of Liverpool Hope University, one of Europe's foremost sand dune experts, and a member of GEO’s Advisory Council, added: “The start of works by the Trump organisation to stabilise dunes at Menie marks a sad day for our golf and natural heritage. Lovers of the true spirit of links golf and dune conservationists both share a passion for raw and living dune landscapes. True links golf treads lightly upon the dunes. The stabilisation work at Menie does not do this. They will start to drain the mobility out of this naturally dynamic dunes and will begin to turn off the heartbeat of the system. Of course, the work is technically possible, and the dunes will be stabilised if enough effort and resources are applied, but this is neither a good thing nor the right thing for golf and the environment.”