Donald Trump's Scottish golf resort

[Flat_Eric]

Well - just seen the news and it looks like billionnaire property tycoon Donald Trump has finally got his way after Scottish Ministers have green-lighted his plans to build two golf courses, a 5-star hotel and some nice new houses in a scenic coastal corner of Aberdeenshire.

Money wins every time.

Yes I know that there's provisos attached about keeping the local sand dunes intact, and the politicians are insisting that it will "regenerate" the area blah blah etc.

But (and you can call me cynical for saying so) I can't help but thinking that far from being given the go-ahead because it might create a couple of hundred jobs in the longer term or out of any genuine concern for the area and its people, all this is more about building another rich man's playground, and giving the aforementioned politicians and their wealthy friends & patrons somewhere else nice to play around of golf and / or shag their mistresses at a weekend, well away from the Great Unwashed in whose interests they claim to be acting.

After all, no doubt this "golf resort" will be highly exclusive and off limits to anyone without serious financial wherewithall.

There was one old boy whose house is right in the middle of the planned site who was refusing to sell up to Trump at any cost. I don't know what the current status is with him, but I take my hat off to him. I just hope that he isn't ultimately bribed or intimidated into vacating his plot.

Would be intersting to hear the take of other forumites on this one - especially those of a Caledonian persuasion.

- Eric

[Dave Wells]

He is still refusing to budge so Trump is going to build it around him and completely shaft him in the process of course.

I have two points on this matter. Are they short of Golf Clubs in Scotland ? I don't think so ! And I bet quite a few palms have been well and truly looked after to get this through. Typical rich bollocks to everybody else.

And I'm not being anti Golf I love the frustrating game !

[JonnyHungwell]

They've got enough land and a small, decreasing population. Not much point preserving the land for nature if there's nobody there but the birds. Get it turned into a resort.

[randyandy]

You are cynical (as usual Eric lol).

That said it does again show all things wrong with planning applications.

If the rich want it then it usually gets through no matter how strong the protest of the 'Great Unwashed'.

There has to be something wrong when a community says they don't want it, the locally elected council backs them and says they don't want it but the money man can just keeping going to another level.

[JonnyHungwell]

I don't think the local community can be allowed to have a view - well they can have a view, but it can't be allowed to prevail when the greater good of the country comes first. Just living in an area doesn't give you a divine right for it to remain the way you like it to be. All NIMBYs are cunts, because they are only concerned with their personal well being - the environment etc. are only tools to get their own way

[Flat_Eric]

JonnyHungwell wrote:

>>


Yes - but in what way is building (yet another) an exclusive golf resort for a select clique of rich folk something that will benefit the country as a whole to any great degree in the long term?

And why shouldn't local people have a say in what happens in their own back yard? If local people's opinions shouldn't be allowed to count, are you saying that filthy-rich foreigners in a vanity trip should be allowed to rise roughshod over local opinion simply to realise a pet project?

And as Andy correctly points out, the local county council denied planning permission originally - so Trump just went higher up until he got his way (most likely subtly scratching a few backs and greasing a few palms in the process, though of course that's unlikely ever to be proven).

You actually surprise me Johnny, because (unless I'm confusing you with someone else, in which case do correct me if I'm wrong) you have youself lambasted the arrogance of "rich cunts" in other threads here.

- Eric

[randyandy]

JonnyHungwell wrote:

All NIMBYs are cunts

WRONG

For example (and I can't go into exact detail)

A road where I live was closed to turn a certain part of town more business friendly.

No improvement in parking or business property just the road being shut according to the bright sparks in ivory towers was enough.

Trouble was (apart from no parking etc) the road being closed was a main link for the town, which resulted in traffic that used it having to use all minor roads surrounding it and NIMBYS going fucking mental about once quiet areas becoming rat runs.

A death, a few other accidents, congestion and a few more problems resulted - something the NIMBYS had feared and warned the 'brains' about as part of their protests.

Tossers in ivory towers eventually changed policy, road was re-opened (I forget the costs) but had the pricks listened to the NIMBYS there would have been 1 less death and a saving of probably thousands.

There are lots more examples and it pisses me off when pricks can only use the term NIMBY as an excuse to label an opposition.

[fatmick]

This course is basically a trojan horse for a housing development. The spokesman for Trump said as much himself on Radio Scotland on Friday, then started rattling on about the golfing tourists who would flock to the north east from round the globe. I am sorry, but the vast majority of those people, particularly americans and Japanese come to Scotland to play golf because of the traditions! They want to play St. Andrews, Turnberry, Troon, Carnoustie, Muirfield. Is it a coincidence that the last "new world class course in Scotland (Loch Lomond) is in financial difficulty? No, it's because the novelty has worn off for the foreign players and it doesnt have the tradition card to play.
P.S> With all that cash, you would think Trump would get a proper haircut!

[JonnyHungwell]

I thought it was supposed to create 6000 jobs, which must be ok. I'm no enthusiast for golf or Donald Trump, only these NIMBYs come out in force everytime anybody wants to do anything. It seems we can't build roads, expand airports, lay rail tracks, build a power station or whatever - without these people coming out of the woodwork. In a way they're worse than the people they complain against.

In the end money and power will always triumph - it may not be right, but it keeps things turning over. And it's mostly dunes and barren land anyway, so there is no real point in preserving it, apart from for the birds.

[Flat_Eric]

JonnyHungwell wrote:

>>


Well - I for one think that's a very good reason to preserve it, Johnny.

Because follow that short-sighted "logic" to its conclusion, and where will it end? What about the rain forests? After all, that's "only" a load of trees isn't it? Sod the plants and animals that live there.

Maybe we should just concrete over the entire country and have done with it - apart from a few golf courses, naturally! After all, that'd solve the housing problem and create plenty of new jobs in one fell swoop wouldn't it?

The wholesale destruction of natural habitats (be it forests, woodlands, hedgerows, coastlines, sand dunes or whatever) in the name of "progress" is one major way in which humans have fucked up (and continue to fuck up) the planet.

All of them are delicate ecosystems, and if you mess those up, the entire natual balance is upset (bio-diversity, food chains and the like), and in the end that's bad news not just for the resident flora and fauna but for us as well.

- Eric