Trump gets his course, plus 500 luxury homes

Soon after Donald J Trump submitted his plans for a £1bn golf resort on an unspoilt stretch of the Aberdeenshire coast, he made clear that he expected officialdom's approval. With characteristic bluntness, the property billionaire told an interviewer: "I'm going to get it."

Some 18 months after he unveiled his proposal for "the world's greatest golf course" and launched a charm offensive that involved a visit in his personal Boeing 727 to bemused cousins in the Hebrides, the tycoon saw his prediction come true yesterday when the Scottish government gave the go-ahead to the controversial scheme. John Swinney, the SNP Finance Secretary at Holyrood, declared that there was a "significant economic and social benefit" in the project, which includes two golf championship courses, a five-star hotel and hundreds of homes, as he overturned a previous decision to reject the plans and granted outline planning permission for the scheme.

Mr Trump, 61, said he was "greatly honoured" by the decision. Environmentalists, however, expressed dismay that approval had been given despite protests that the course will be partly built on protected sand dunes. Conservationists claimed that the dunes on the Menie estate near Aberdeen, classified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), would be destroyed by the development.

Gaining permission for his vision of a golfing paradise has been far from smooth for the American magnate. Formidable obstacles presented themselves in the forms of a refusnik fisherman who has rejected all entreaties to sell his run-down farm in the centre of the proposed development, campaigners worried about otters and kittiwakes, and unimpressed councillors. Months of careful preparation and lobbying for Trump International Golf Links (Scotland) seemed to have come undone last year when Aberdeenshire Council rejected the plans.

The impasse was broken when the nationalist government in Scotland decided to call in the scheme; a month-long public inquiry was held earlier this year. Mr Trump, whose mother, Mary Macleod, was Scottish, attended the proceedings in person.

Mr Swinney said planning permission was conditional on ensuring the sand dunes and resident wildlife were properly protected and the number of proposed homes was reduced from 950 to no more than 500. But conservationists insisted that the scheme still threatens a unique habitat. Aedan Smith of RSPB Scotland said: "The development will cause the destruction of a dune system, with its precious wildlife, on a site which is protected by law and should continue to be available for future generations to enjoy."

Mr Trump still faces several difficulties before teeing off from his Aberdeenshire resort. Not least is Michael Forbes, the 55-year-old fisherman whose 23-acre farm sits in the middle of the development site. He has vowed to never sell up.