The Trump organisation has employed lawyer Ann Faulds, who previously advised the former Scottish Executive on its policies for compulsory purchases of land for development.
According to one critic, this shows power is being “bought and sold for Trumpton gold”. But the accusation has been forcefully rejected by Trump, with his senior aide attacking the media for spreading “shit”.
On Thursday Aberdeenshire Council is due to discuss whether to use compulsory purchase powers against the owners of four homes on the Menie estate, near Balmedie. Trump says these properties are “critical” to his controversial plans for two championship golf courses, 1450 homes and a 450-bed hotel.
Although Trump originally asked the council to consider compulsory purchase, he has backed off since the Sunday Herald reported last month that most councillors were likely to reject the idea. The issue is still due to be debated, however, because a motion opposing compulsory purchase has been lodged.
In the past, compulsory purchase orders have mostly been used to acquire land essential for developments of national importance, such as transport and housing schemes. According to government figures, of the nine orders issued in 2008, none were for private developers.
Despite this, Trump had originally been hoping to enlist Aberdeenshire Council in the pursuit of compulsory orders against the homeowners. To help him, he has had the services of Ann Faulds, a partner with the Edinburgh law firm, Dundas & Wilson.
She is head of the firm’s planning and transportation team, and helped represent Trump during the public inquiry into the development last year. She was also a member of the former Scottish Executive’s research team on compulsory purchase and compensation. As a member of that team, she was a co-author of a 2001 government report on compulsory purchase.
The report predicted compulsory powers would be increasingly used and concluded “it may no longer be appropriate to restrict their use to cases of last resort”.
Her role has upset opponents of the Trump development, including David Milne, one of the four householders facing eviction. He has promised the only way he will leave his home is “horizontally in a box”.
“This is indicative of the way the Trump organisation works,” Milne said. “They engage people who have worked for government to allow them to understand every wrinkle, loophole and furrow in the legislation.”
He was backed by Green Party MSP Patrick Harvie, left. “His threats to use compulsory purchase orders against people who simply want to stay in their homes have been widely condemned, even alienating many of his former supporters,” Harvie alleged.
“Now it turns out he is being advised by the legal firm paid by Scottish ministers to help write their policy on compulsory purchase. This is revolving-door government of the most insidious sort, with influence and power apparently being bought and sold for Trumpton gold.”
Martin Ford, the independent councillor who has lodged the motion opposing compulsory purchase, accused Trump of trying to “steamroller” through his plans.
“The attempt by the residents at Menie to defend their rights is such an unequal struggle,” he said.
Such accusations provoked a furious personal response from Trump and his senior aide, George Sorial, who called the Sunday Herald from New York.
Trump argued only a “moron” would think it wrong for him to hire the best lawyers. He said: “Should I hire a farmer to act as my legal adviser? Would you hire a truck driver to carry out brain surgery? It’s the most asinine argument I’ve ever heard.
“I can’t imagine you’ll make this into a story. You’ll look stupid. The whole point of your story is absurd.”
Sorial denied the Trump organisation had an unfair advantage. “We have taken compulsory purchase orders off the table. The only people now talking about them are those who oppose them,” he said.
He insisted progress was being made in negotiations with “all but one” of the homeowners and hinted surprising things could happen. The owners have been offered 15% more than the market value for their properties, although none has so far accepted.
Sorial accused the Sunday Herald of writing “shit” about the Trump development, and warned legal action would be taken if anything inaccurate was published.
Dundas & Wilson said it advised all clients according to their needs and tried to deliver the best professional service available. “This expertise is available to all our clients and to suggest this is in any way inappropriate appears commercially naive,” said a spokesman.
A Scottish government spokesman added: “This is ludicrous, and relates to something eight years ago.
“The Trump organisation is obviously free to employ people of their choice.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article