Legal wrangle over Trump plan

ABERDEENSHIRE Council could back a planning application connected to Donald Trump’s £1billion golf resort today – despite a threat of legal action.

The local authority’s Formartine area committee is due to consider an application to plant marram grass and carry out preparatory earthworks to stabilise sand dunes on the Menie Estate.

But lawyers for the Tripping Up Trump group claim it is a major development contrary to the development plan, and as such the area committee cannot rule on it.

They said it requires a pre-determination hearing and an environmental assessment, and then must be submitted to the full council.

It also emerged last night that the Green Party has urged the European Commission to launch an investigation into the golf course scheme on the grounds that EU planning and environmental law has been broken.

The Tripping Up Trump Campaign has threatened an “immediate” judicial review and possible interdict if councillors consider and approve the application in front of them today.

Council planning director Dr Christine Gore has said that the proposal to stabilise the dunes was submitted prior to the introduction of new planning regulations on August 3 and therefore “statutory major applications process does not apply”.

A council spokesman said the existence of outline planning permission for the Menie Estate project meant the application was not considered to be a significant departure from the development which warranted a pre-determination hearing.

The leader of the Green Party England and Wales, Caroline Lucas MEP, has written to European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas, raising concerns that wildlife and habitats listed in EC directives may not be adequately protected and planning procedures seem to have been breached.