Almost 5,000 people could be living on site at any one time at Donald Trump’s proposed £1billion golf development, it was revealed yesterday.
It will more than treble the 2,000 population of Balmedie where the US tycoon hopes to build two golf courses, a 450-bedroom hotel, 950 holiday homes and 500 houses on the links north of Aberdeen.
The Trump Organisation estimates in a new report that the development could be home to up to 4,971 people at any one time.
Last night the figures were welcomed by politicians and business experts who said the additional income from taxes and the extra spending power from wealthy tourists would provide “a huge economic boost” to the area.
The report, submitted by the Trump Organisation as an addition to its planning application, based its predictions on statistics from Visit- Scotland, a visitor survey conducted by Scottish Enterprise Grampian and figures relating to the average household size in Aberdeenshire.
It says 3,406 visitors and 1,565 residents are expected to live at the resort between April and September at any one time, with the number of visitors falling marginally to 3,285 from October to March, when business travellers and people attending conferences are more likely to come.
The report says the average number of visiting golfers per group would be six, and they would stay for an average of seven nights.
It expects golfers to spend most of their time in the resort while family groups “would be more inclined to visit local attractions”.
Last night, Liliana Hiris, lecturer in economics at Robert Gordon University, said the economic impact of 5,000 additional people would extend far beyond the boundaries of the resort.
She said: “It’s the whole package, it’s not just the course. The money will serve all the area.”
It would also be a major benefit to have “people with lots of money” visiting the area, said Ms Hiris.
Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce said the spending power of 5,000 more people would bring “a huge economic boost”.
A spokeswoman said the resort would be “a major selling point” for attracting conferences worth millions of pounds to the north-east.
VisitScotland said: “The people that will be attracted to this development are exactly the type of visitors we are trying to attract to Scotland as we position the country as a quality destination.”
But its spokeswoman said the development must be “sensitively managed in terms of the local environment and infrastructure”.
North-east Labour list MSP Richard Baker said the surge in visitors could bring a significant economic boost to the area, but stressed that Aberdeenshire Council, the Scottish Government and the Trump Organisation needed to “work closely” to respond to infrastructure pressure.
But Debra Storr, councillor for Ellon and district and a resident of Balmedie, said she did not believe the benefits would be far-reaching.
“In terms of bodies, it’s probably two Balmedies or half an Ellon,” she said.
“But the economic impact of this resort outside the resort will be next to nothing.”