Plans for 550 Trump golf homes at Menie approved

The Trump Organisation's plans for hundreds of new homes at its Aberdeenshire golf resort have been approved.

The application features 550 houses at the Menie Estate, as well as shops and food outlets.

Branded The Trump Estate, the plans feature a range of properties from cottages to larger homes costing more than £1m.

Councillors backed the plans by 38 votes to 24.

A bid for a second golf course at the resort was approved on Tuesday.

Council officers had recommended the housing plans be approved by councillors subject to a number of conditions.

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More than a decade ago, the original plans for the Menie golf resort were called in by the Scottish government after being rejected by councillors. Mr Trump promised to spend £1bn and create 6,000 jobs developing the golf resort.

Council planning manager Mairi Stewart told the meeting of the fresh plans: "This is a long-term investment."

Councillors were told three hectares of lost trees would be replaced with more than five hectares - about 14,000 new trees.

The Trump Organisation's Sarah Malone told councillors: "The anchor is the championship course."

She said there was now no marketplace to support the construction of a large-scale conventional hotel.

She said a sustainable community was needed to support a seasonal transient business.

Council leader Jim Gifford said he was disappointed there would no longer be a five-star hotel, but accepted there was now over capacity in the region.

However, Councillor Richard Thomson opposed the proposals, saying "something transformational" had been promised and the plans were a departure from that.

Councillors on the Formartine area committee approved the plans for the second course by eight votes to four on Tuesday.

The 18-hole MacLeod course will be built to the south and west of the controversial original course, which opened at Menie in 2012.

The new course is named after Mr Trump's mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, who was born and brought up on the Hebridean island of Lewis but emigrated to New York.

• 12 January 2006 - It emerges that property tycoon Donald Trump is in talks over the creation of a major leisure development in Scotland.
• 31 March 2006 - Mr Trump announces plans to build a new world class golfing centre in Aberdeenshire.
• 28 April 2006 - The US businessman flies into Scotland to visit the site of his planned course.
• 27 November 2006 - Mr Trump unveils plans for a £1bn golf resort - way above earlier estimates for the resort, thought to be about £330m.
• 30 March 2007 - The full planning application is submitted - but an environmental impact report warns of "significant adverse changes".
• 11 September 2007 - Aberdeenshire planning officials recommend that councillors approve the golf resort.
• 29 November 2007 - Councillors make the unexpected decision to reject the plans.
• 3 December 2007 - Mr Trump says he will not appeal against the decision to turn down the plans.
• 4 December 2007 - The Scottish government makes the unprecedented move to decide whether the golf resort goes ahead.
• 9 December 2007 - First Minister Alex Salmond met Trump representatives the day before ministers decided to have the final say, it emerges.
• 10 June 2008 - A public inquiry gets under way in Aberdeen and Mr Trump gives evidence.
• 3 November 2008 - The Scottish government announces that Mr Trump's controversial plans for the Aberdeenshire coast have been approved.
• 15 July 2012 - Members of the public tee off at the golf resort for the first time.
• 24 July 2018 - The Trump Organisation says it will submit a planning application for 500 homes at its golf resort.