Sand dunes at Donald Trump’s Aberdeenshire golf resort may lose their status as a protected wildlife site.
Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) said there is no longer a reason to protect the dunes at Menie as they do not include enough of the special features for which they were designated a site of special scientific interest (SSSI).
The designation is given to areas with rare species of fauna or flora or with important geological or physiological features.
The Trump Organisation called the move a “stitch-up”.
Yesterday marked the beginning of a three-month consultation on the future status of Foveran Links SSSI, of which the dunes at Menie form part.
Trump was granted permission to build a golf course at the site despite concerns about damage to the dunes. Trump International Golf Links opened in 2012.
SNH said evidence showed permanent habitat loss following the construction of fairways and greens and that stabilisation of mobile sand “has destroyed the dynamic nature of the site”.
Sally Thomas, director of people and nature at SNH, said: “The denotification of SSSIs is unusual, however in this case we have found there is no longer a reason to protect the dunes at Menie as they do not include enough of the special, natural features for which they were designated.
"We work with developers across Scotland to ensure habitats and wildlife are protected when development work is undertaken. Most of the time, development can take place without damaging important natural features but that was not the case in this instance.”
Scottish Green party co-convener Patrick Harvie, who campaigned against the development, said: “It has ruined, destroyed, gubbed, the kind of natural environment that those paper protections were there to protect.”
The Scottish Government said ministers approved the Menie Golf Resort application in line with independent recommendations that overall, the economic and social benefits of the proposal “justified the adverse environmental impacts caused”.
The Trump Organisaton’s Sarah Malone said: “This is an utter disgrace and shows SNH has hit an all time low.
“To make an announcement to the media before informing us, the actual landowner, shows how politically-motivated this decision is.
“What other SSSI landowner is singled out in this way. It’s a stitch-up.
“Before Donald Trump invested in the site, SNH had little interest in the SSSI at Foveran Links and did even less about it and has barely been on the property since.”
