Friday 15 November 2013
An application for an offshore windfarm within view of Donald Trump’s
Aberdeenshire golf resort was mishandled by Government officials, his legal
team has claimed.
Gordon Steele QC suggested, at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, that if
the windfarm project was not a “guinea pig” then it was “one of the first
applications” handled by Marine Scotland, the Scottish Government
directorate which manages the country’s waters.
Mr Trump opposes the 11-turbine European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre
(EOWDC), claiming it will spoil the view from his nearby golf course.
The US property tycoon is challenging the legality of the Scottish
Government’s decision to approve the windfarm.
In his closing comments to the court, Mr Steele said the windfarm proposal
was one of the first considered by Marine Scotland.
“In my submission, this perhaps helps to explain what I say are the
procedural irregularities and, frankly, mishandling of this matter by
Marine Scotland,” he said.
“We were, if not the guinea pig, one of the very first applications before
them.”
Mr Trump has said he will pull the plug on his own controversial plans to
finish his proposed luxury resort, with a large hotel, holiday homes and
residential village, if the windfarm goes ahead.
Mr Steele argued that the benefits flowing from the two proposals should
have been compared. He said he previously underestimated the number of jobs
to be created by the Trump development when he put it at between 4,000 and
5,000.
“In the resort construction, there will be of the order of 6,000 jobs
created and 2,000 in the resort operation,” he said.
“The vision of Mr Trump is to construct the greatest golf course anywhere
in the world, capable of hosting a major championship.
“We are at the absolute extreme end, or perhaps off the spectrum, in
relation to considerations of this type.”
Mr Steele also referred to a blog on a golf website where First Minister
Alex Salmond is quoted as saying the windfarm will “absolutely” be built.
The statement, as reported, “does not sit happily” with ministerial
guidelines, he said.
The petition, lodged by Trump International Golf Links and the Trump
Organisation earlier this year, asks the court to declare that the Scottish
Government’s decision to approve the windfarm on March 26 was unlawful.
It also challenges the decision not to hold a public inquiry into the
project in Aberdeen Bay.
Mr Steele referred to Mr Trump in his closing remarks to Lord Doherty,
stating: “It’s beyond doubt that this inward investor does not feel that he
has been treated fairly, reasonably or in an unbiased fashion.
“Accordingly, I invite my lord, in the interests of the Trump Organisation
but much, much more importantly in the national interest, to uphold the
petition for judicial review.”
James Mure QC, closing the Scottish Government’s case, said potential
benefits to golf or tourism have to be weighed with benefits in other areas.
“The responsibility for weighing and balancing the different policy
considerations rightly rests in our system with the Scottish ministers. The
job is not that of an accountant,” he said.
The First Minister sought advice from senior civil servants on public
statements regarding the windfarm development and took the matter “very
seriously”, Mr Mure said.
The comment reported on the blog was only part of an overheard
conversation, he said.
“The context of what was overheard is by no means clear.”
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