Money talks. Billionaire Donald Trump doesn't get the go-ahead for his mega housing, hotel and golf course development from Aberdeen council, and his spokesman exits stage left, looking thunderous and muttering darkly about the dire message this decision sends out to international business. Next thing you know, our MSPs are in a flap, parroting Trump's "Scotland must be seen to be open for business" line, calling in the application and re-opening the whole debate.

Trump was perfectly at liberty to appeal against the council's decision in the usual way. More sanguine developers recognise that they may have to go to an appeal or reformulate their plans to meet objections. Not Trump, who is way too high-handed for that. He prefers to twist the arm of the Scottish government by threatening to switch his allegiance to Northern Ireland, a province desperate for any scrap of economic development it can get. So the meter is running. Unless the Scottish government finds some way to expedite this higher level scrutiny of the proposal, the not so implicit threat is that Trump will flounce off in a huff.

This surely is the most important test yet of this administration's commitment to the environment and its respect for democratic procedures. Is it going to allow itself to be strong-armed by big business and a nasty, virulent campaign in favour of the development, whipped up by the Aberdeen Evening Express? It looks worryingly likely. Alex Salmond is reportedly "furious" that Aberdeenshire Council has rejected the proposal. And if I understood correctly the convener of the Scottish parliament's economy, energy and tourism committee, Tavish Scott - I apologise in advance if I traduce his remarks, but they were made with characteristic wooliness - he seemed to be saying that Scotland daren't say no to any development of Trump-sized proportions, almost irrespective of the detail of the proposal. This all sounds rather pathetic. It smacks of a small country's rash desire to inflate its importance.

If we are worried about what message we send out to potential investors, then this is indeed a clear one. We will have gone from being the "best small country in the world" to being the "best small supine country in the world", a mecca for speculators and profiteers with contentious ventures that are being bounced elsewhere. It's one thing to be business-friendly, another to let any chancer with a money-spinning plan walk all over you. We might as well place a global ad that reads "Having problems with greenbelts, sites with protected environmental designations, local development plans or listed buildings ? Come to Scotland - we'll make them all go away".

Trump's principles are clear. This is essentially a super-sized, exclusive housing and hotel development; 950 time shares, 500 luxury homes, 36 golf villas and 450 hotel rooms. The "world class" golf course represents the usual coy attempt of the property magnate to squeeze a more attractive foot in the door. Initially, it is guaranteed to attract wealthy, golf-crazy investors whose properties on the Spanish Costas are crashing in value.

The notional economic benefits that will be brought by the venture are, as usual, over-egged. There will be jobs at first in construction, and thereafter we can become a nation of bellhops and caddies, chasing the Yankee tourist pound. One terrorist bomb on a transatlantic plane, and the clientele will take fright, leaving a glitzy, marbled white elephant of monumental size.

And what of the environment? Wildlife and environmental bodies such as the RSPB, Scottish Natural Heritage, the Scottish Wildlife Trust and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency are against this development for very good reason. A substantial part would stand on land designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Once you start subverting this legal protection, reserved for the jewels in our natural heritage crown, then anything goes.

Remember that old scripture union song, "The foolish man builds his house upon the sand"? Dump the thousands of tonnes of concrete on this fragile environment that Trump plans to, and you can bet your bottom dollar that all the run-off water from the site will have a negative impact on the local ecosystem. The sand dunes at Foveran Links are part of a very important, inter-connected coastal system, and one of the top five sand dune sites in the UK. They will be destroyed by this development. Like mangroves in tropical countries, the dunes play a vital role in protecting the coast against erosion, separating salt and fresh water and so on. With climate change causing sea levels to rise the world over, we need every bit of natural coastal protection we can get.

I take my hat off to the courageous councillors who have held fast in their opposition to this misguided scheme. Would that their counterparts in the higher echelons of government demonstrate such sense and foresight. The very least we can expect from the latter now is a full and transparent public inquiry. Anything less would leave a bad taste in the mouth.