Call for coastal protection as Trump golf course opens

With the official opening of Donald Trump's new golf course on his Menie Estate near Aberdeen, there has been a call from Ramblers Scotland for better protection for Scotland's coastline.

Ramblers Scotland Director, Dave Morris, said, “This golf course should never have been built. The supposed economic benefits should not have been allowed to override the need to protect the natural landscapes and wildlife of the coastal sand dunes. The whole value of these dunes was based on their mobility, large areas of open sand shifting with the changing wind, creating a dynamic mosaic with the different vegetation patterns. Driving bulldozers through such a place to create a golf course has destroyed the very essence of why these sand dunes were so special”.

Dave Morris called on the Scottish Government to learn some lessons from the Trump fiasco, “Scotland is falling behind the rest of the UK and other European countries in the protection and enjoyment of its coastline. While Wales now has a coastal path around its whole coast and England is making substantial progress with its coastal path, Scotland is more interested in building golf resorts with massive hotel and housing developments along our coastline. A journey from Archerfield in East Lothian through the St Andrews Bay developments in Fife to the Trump disaster north of Aberdeen shows how our local and national politicians have got their priorities completely wrong. They need to learn from countries like Sweden who long ago put in planning constraints which prevented damaging developments being built too close to the coastline”.

Dave Morris called for a new vision for Scotland’s coastline, “Our coastline needs protecting from every Tom, Dick and Donald who wants to make a quick buck. The coastline should be accepted as a superb landscape and wildlife resource, an essential defence against rising sea levels, and a place where the development of walking cycling and horse riding trails should be the priority. Environmental protection and public enjoyment are more important than hotels, houses and fairways along most sections of the coast, and can bring huge economic benefits to local communities.

“Donald Trump has provided the perfect example of how to put the wrong development in the wrong place.”

Although the golf course is now open, you can still enjoy a fabulous walk on the nearby dunes at Balmedie, check out the route and map on Walkhighlands.