Residents, supporters, and Aberdeen Voice contributors attended the Trump International Golf Links Scotland exhibition of its proposed Macleod Course on the evening of 20 August, 2013. For now, let’s just say the red carpet wasn’t exactly rolled out to welcome them. The most important issue is that you now have a chance, whatever side of the bund you sit on, to voice your opinion on the proposed second course – a course that apparently will be directly adjacent to Balmedie County Park. Suzanne Kelly reports.
Suzanne Kelly fights her way through the hordes.
The venue for the exhibition of the proposed second course was the temporary marquee adjacent to the temporary clubhouse in the
not-to-original-spec Trump parking lot, bordered by the high bunds, which were never approved in their current form, and are now
higher than before, near Leyton Farm Road.
Trump’s parking lot wasn’t exactly filled with visitors when we arrived around 1900.
The most shocking feature is that this course is apparently going to border Balmedie Country Park. How this will work in practice environmentally, or take into account the safety of park users who don’t wish to be knocked unconscious by flying golf balls, seems to still need some consideration.
Local residents I spoke to were shocked, and believe their neighbours will be too.
In a forthcoming article we will cover the treatment meted out by those who were on hand to answer questions, but right now, Voice readers are encouraged to examine the contents of the presentation and submit their comments as soon as possible. ‘The deadline for responses is 27 August 2013’ reads the two-page Exhibition Feedback Form.
Whether this means by midnight on 26 August, by the close of business on 27August, or by midnight that day, is not clearly stated. Those who wish to make a submission, therefore, should do so as soon as they can.
The room had a number of round tables, adorned with golf magazines, Trump writing paper, pens, and the feedback forms. Sarah Malone was there, as was a bouncer who towered over my 5’11” height, and a dirty-blonde woman who emphatically refused to identify herself.
She did, however, look strikingly similar to Ann Faulds to some visitors, best known perhaps, for apparently feeding Dr Christine Gore of the council with advice and opinion when planning permission for the complex was initially sought. Details of this are in past issues of Voice and in other news sources. Also present was a man, presumably Hawtree, the course designer.
Comment forms and photos of the presentation boards can be found at http://suzannekelly.yolasite.com/
Proposed layout of the new course
There will be a wider consultation in due course, the Shire council taking comments and objections when these plans are submitted, but putting your thoughts on record now with the Trump Organisation is strongly advised for those who have an interest.
No comment will, in all probability, be counted as ‘no objection’. I urge everyone to make themselves heard.
Anyone wishing to see the exhibition for themselves should take note. It is not accessible via public transport, unless you are willing to walk from the bus stop for at least 20 minutes to get there.
There is no good reason for the consultation to be there; you can’t even see the site from where the consultation exercise is situated.
Is this deliberate? The low key publicity and the low budget nature of this exhibition and consultation exercise suggests to me they would prefer if people did not visit and ask questions.
Why was it not held in town? The public could have seen what happens when you ask questions, like the sniggering when we were there between Malone and Faulds (if it was Faulds), the Faulds-lookalike shutting down any answers, and Malone’s behaviour; the public also may have wondered why a huge security guard was required.
- Comments enabled – see comments box below. Note, all comments will be moderated.
I feel sickened to think that Trump will be allowed to take over nearly the whole of Balmedie sands, It is a disgrace that he is even allowed to be even considering it. It seems money talks in this tragedy again. What makes me very suspicious is the fact that he is acting as if he has the land already, recently walked our dogs there and he has littered the area with small flags to plot his course, This greedy land destroyer has to be stopped.
We have to act as a voice of the people of Scotland now before all our green areas, wildlife reserves, parks and beaches have all gone.
Strange post, he does own the land already, you were walking on his land. And he hasn’t taken over the balmedie sands nor will he ever, you’ll still be able to walk on all the beaches to your hearts content.
So in reality he’s done NOTHING wrong, you have nothing to be sickened about.
Is he gonnae pit up bunds tae hide Balmedie country park?
I’m not a local resident, but I didn’t know anything about a consultation. It’ll be interesting to see if the local press (I don’t follow it anymore) mention it, and urge people to have their say. I listen to radio Scotland most mornings, there has been no mention of it there.
I have the greatest respect for Suzanne but am still none the wiser about how to comment on this issue. The link to http://suzannekelly.yolasite.com/ does not help.
thanks all for letting me know some of you have difficulties opening the two pages of the reply form; and it looks like quite a few of you accessed the yola page. I will upload a different, clearer version later today, before noon, and advise you when that is done. The two page form can be opened, printed, completed and sent to Trump International Golf Links Scotland either by email (if you have a scanner) or post. The photos beneath the form are of the text displayed at the exhibition so you can read and decide your position.
If you don’t want to wait for my PDFs to be uploaded to Yola, then why not drop a line to admin@trumpgolfscotland.commailto:admin@trumpgolfscotland.com , tell them you read their exhibition materials but you need to have a comment form sent to you (by email). They should be happy to oblige, and you might want to ask any questions if you email them, too.
My objections to the design will be environmental concerns (the previous environmental monitoring deteriorated); proximity to the public park (danger from flying golfballs for a start), and proximity to the water of some holes (possible further collapse). When I copy the local councillors I will ask that NO further approval be granted until MEMAG or a better environmental monitoring group is installed, until there is a decision on the requested public hearing, and until there are guarantees from TIGLS that there will be no further deviations from approved plans, current or future
I feel angered that someone who’s not even British, let alone Scottish, has so much control over the council simply because he has money. It’s worse than a tragedy
Since when was someone’s nationality important?
He’s holding a consultation and following the correct planning procedure, how on earth is that controlling a council?
Why did you even go?
Would you have went if it was just another golf course being built? Craibstone was built not that long ago, did you go along and object to that?
This hounding of Mr Trump by you and serial objectors is very tiresome, leave the man and his business alone, he owns the land and subject to planning laws can do what he likes, it isn’t an incinerator he’s building, it’s another great golf course. Think of the tourism it will bring and the jobs it will create.
This new site has no sites of scientific interest, the best objection you have is it borders a park! come on, the likes of Auchmill borders peoples houses and no one has ever been injured by a flying ball.
As I’ve stated before, in my opinion the only reason you’re interested is because you don’t like Mr Trump, that is a very poor excuse and leaves a sour taste in my mouth that some people can be so vindictive.
Having just read through the entire consultation paper I can see not one reason to object, I wish Mr Trump all the best with his new course and thank him for bringing employment and tourists to the area.
I’d also like to commend him for his efforts in increasing the wildlife habitat in his plans.
What was once farming and scrub land will soon be a magnificent well maintained golf course, for that we should all think him and his team.
Now if only the plans for those ugly wildlife damaging turbines could be thrown out things would be perfect, I look forward to the Aberdeen voice reporters getting their teeth into that one, a real environmental disaster and an eyesore for us all, one we all need to unite behind to defeat, over to you Suzanne.
And trumps golf course aint ugly ? it be an effin eyesore once houses and the hotel go up.
I wonder whats in it for you george smith?
[ Post amended. Paul, you are very welcome to challenge input from George or any other, but please leave the personal insults out, cheers – Moderator ]
If you know of employment he’s brought to the area, please do send your evidence, for there seems very little of that. Thanks George; always a pleasure to hear from you
The lack of tents in the area suggest the tourists who have used the course lived in hotels and guest houses, the grass appears to be cut on a regular basis which suggest greenkeepers are employed, you never tire of mentioning the security, again more jobs. I suspect one can eat and drink at the course, more service jobs, waiters, porters, chefs, cleaners, great news in my opinion, not everyone is lucky enough to be well educated, people need to live and feed their families.
Lets add in the fact the tourists will be eating outwith the course, that means local cafes and restaurants will be getting business, as will taxi and bus companies. Let’s also look at the pic in the header, we see a young waiter and Mrs Malone, so that’s the service industry and the course management. That’s before you get to the local cinemas, shops, take away’s, whatever type of service is used by a tourist to the area.
Oil won’t be here forever, we need to get tourism in the area, it may turn out to be our most valuable resource, our area is beautiful and golf courses will only enhance that, take off your blinkers.
Reply to George Smith. I suspect that most of the players LIVE in the Aberdeen area, or are visiting on business, and would be staying in the area even if the course was not in operation.
“Oil won’t be here forever” There is no evidence of production falling. No oil field has been decommissioned. Fields at the ends of their lives require MORE labour rather than less. Income from oil will be with us for many years to come.
” dirty-blonde woman who emphatically refused to identify herself ”
Out of interest Suzanne, why should this woman be forced into identifying herself, what has it got to do with you or anyone else?
I’m sure she has good reason for keeping quiet, we’ve seen in the past how the objectors to various projects have attempted to dig up dirt on anyone who stands in their way, Sarah Malone has herself been the subject of various attacks, from her looks to whom she married has all been used in the past, I too have had my facebook page dug into and been accused of being a racist, not to mention my workplace being used as a weapon to tar me, she did the right thing keeping quiet in my opinion.
let’s think George. A public consultation offers the chance to put your questions to the team who want their design approved. I sit down and am told I’m speaking to Martin Hawtree, the designer. Every other question I ask – or near enough it – is interrupted by Anne Faulds telling him not to answer, declaring the question is not relevant, or otherwise interfering with my conversation. I’d say that’s fairly relevant. Why she thought it was best not to identify herself to me, when her identity was easily enough confirmed by other visitors and a 5 second look at the internet is a good question too. Sarah Malone would have, I thought, known who I was; after all, my picture atop the collapsed course was on a fair few of the UK’s front pages. Naturally when I was asked to identify myself, I did so. But so much for a chance to get my questions answered. To be fair to Hawtree, he was pleasant enough, if not party to information I was after.
Suzanne, I don’t know your questions so couldn’t comment on them but suspect you would have been there to be divisive, why not list the questions you posed so we can make up our own mind, I suspect none were in the least encouraging of the good work the Trump team has done in the area nor of the employment or tourism the courses will create.
I don’t why you expect to be treated well when you constantly deride the good work that has went on there, actually did you ever set foot on the estate before Trump bought it?
I’ve been many many times and see nothing but constant improvement, I have an open mind though.
You object for environmental reasons, hahaha, now there’s a surprise. Not a cheep from you on an attempt to plant 650 foot wind turbines into the sea in the area, the catastrophic damage to wildlife by these things is well documented, that’s before you even get to the asthetics but you’re concerned someone may be hit by a wayward golf ball. You couldn’t make it up.
As the “farmer” with the rundown farm says, “if the turbines p**s off Trump then I’m all for them”, at least he had the guts to be honest, you hide the fact in my opinion, you just can’t accept that a rich man is doing something constructive in our area.
You’re in danger of losing support for real issues with this continued witchhunt in my opinion, the look of sheer delight in your face that the marquee tent wasn’t busy says it all, I don’t think you had any intention of going there with an open mind, you went to collect information that you hoped could damage the application.
Your socialist agenda is quite clear, I wish you would have the guts to just come out with the truth instead of trying to blur things with an environment slant, hopefully the councillors will see through the likes of you and vote this perfectly good application through, the vast majority in the area support Mr Trump and realise oil won’t last forever, we could do without the same objectors trying to stop progress in the name of their political beliefs.
btw That’s champagne socialists, the type who own huge houses and shareholdings in companies and drive expensive cars, Aberdeen is full of them, always middle class silver spoon in the mouth types who don’t struggle for work. Real socialists would laugh at them.
In the past few months when there has been discussion in the television news and the papers about this second course, I haven’t come across any mention of the permanent club house. You would think that “The World’s Greatest Golf Course”, which is now going to have an adjoining “Magnificent” golf course, (and dedicated to his mother). Would not have a cheap prefab club house made out of timber.
I unfortunately didn’t go to the consultation, but if there wasn’t any mention of the glorified stone built club house, I find this a bit suspicious.
My posts are waiting on moderation while a later post appears before it, sorry if my comments are uncomfortable but someone has to take a stand against the agenda filled stuff that appears on here.
if you’re going to start biased editing then I guess I’m wasting my time.
[George, it is plainly obvious that you dominate the comments sections in terms of both number of posts and length of post. This demands significantly of our time and attention, particularly as your posts are generally more contentious. We do not work to your timescale or anyone else’s, merely in accordance with time we have to give. We are not obliged to publish, and will be justified in ignoring your input if it becomes a conduit for expressing disrespect for those who take time to process it – Moderator ]
I apologise to the moderation team, was a little irked that Seans post which was written hours after mine yet appeared before me, however I understand your reasons now.
Sorry, won’t push for any of my posts to be published in the future.