DONALD Trump's lawyers have told the Scottish Government a public inquiry into plans for an offshore wind farm is necessary to show the impact it will have on his multi-million-pound resort north of Aberdeen.
The tycoon had already denounced the idea of 11 turbines one and a half miles off the Aberdeenshire coast, which would be seen from his Trump International Golf Links at Balmeadie, as "visually destructive" and claimed it would ruin the Scottish coast forever.
The project has been scaled down from the original plan for 33 turbines, but now Edinburgh-based solicitors Dundas and Wilson have written to Fergus Ewing, the Energy Minister, officially requesting the inquiry.
As well as the championship golf course, 950 holiday apartments and 500 houses are planned for the resort.
Mr Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr, said he wasn't sure the people of the north-east had fully grasped the impact the development would have on the coast and how close the turbines would be to the shore.
Earlier this week he and senior adviser George Sorial met representatives of the wind farm developers – European power company Vattenfall, Subsea and offshore engineering firm Technip, and Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group, who together want to build the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre (EOWDC). It is understood the Trump Organisation had been hoping to persuade them to reconsider.
After that meeting EOWDC project spokesman David Roger said: "No conclusions were reached."
Mr Trump is known to have written to Alex Salmond already warning that he may have to reconsider his investment in the development of the resort if the wind farm is approved.
This latest letter will be considered first by Marine Scotland but a final decision on a public inquiry will be for Scottish ministers.
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