Plan driven policy commitments trumped by international investment promise

The Scottish Governments’ new commitment to plan driven development seems inconsistent with its approval of the Donald Trump proposals for “the best golf course in the world”, hotel and holiday accommodation and 500 houses on a coastal SSSI north of Aberdeen.

The business community in the North East seemed to be fully behind the proposal from long before the planning application, claiming it as an essential element in diversification of the local economy post oil development. And the First Minister had met Trump in his promotional role for Scotland and as a local MSP.

The application was even called in after being refused by the local council, so the reporter’s analysis should be interesting reading in informing economic and environmental trade-offs in other planning decisions. The conditions may be onerous but 500 houses in a rural area seems disproportionate, whatever ones perspective on likely take up and the all-year round use prospects for a golf course in such a location.

From an environmental perspective it may even turn out that the development proves the most effective means of preserving the badly degraded dunes.