In UK, Trump's Scottish links split locals

As Donald Trump pursues a second stint in the White House, three thousand miles away in Scotland he is building a new golf course that renews scrutiny of his vexed relationship with his mother's birth country.

For some, the 18-hole links on the northeast Aberdeenshire coast will symbolise the Republican candidate's adoration for the late Mary Anne MacLeod Trump's ancestral home and will be a driver of economic investment.

Others say it will be a display of ostentation that will bring little benefit to a local area that already boasts numerous highly-ranked golf courses, including an existing Trump one.

The course is being constructed at the Trump International Golf Links resort in Balmedie, just north of Aberdeen, where Trump opened a course in 2012 that sparked controversy over possible environmental damage.

The second layout is scheduled to welcome golfers from next summer and is part of wider plans at the resort to honour his mother who was born on the northwest Isle of Lewis in 1912.

"The whole impetus for this development was Trump's abiding love for Scotland," Sarah Malone, executive vice president of Trump International Scotland, told AFP inside a baronial mansion on the resort's 1,400-acre (567-hectare) grounds.

Outside, waves from the North Sea lap onto golden beaches as the autumn Scottish sun casts long shadows over greenkeepers laying turf on holes flanked by towering sand dunes dotted with spiky marram grass.

Trump International says the course will form "the greatest 36 holes in golf". Golf Digest magazine ranked the original course 34th in the world earlier this year.

- Losses -

Four years ago, Scotland's natural heritage agency stripped the dunes on the resort of their status as a site of special scientific interest, blaming construction of the existing course.

Trump's company stresses that the new course will be "one of the most environmentally friendly and sustainable courses ever built", with almost all materials sourced on site.

"Everything we have done has enhanced the environment and developed new habitats and the biodiversity of the site," said Malone.

Not everyone is convinced.

"We know sand dunes are fragile habitats. They're not ecosystems that deal well with (this) kind of development," local lawmaker Maggie Chapman of the Scottish Green Party told AFP.

Upon buying the land in 2006, Trump promised to create 6,000 jobs and invest £1 billion ($1.3 billion).

Today, the Trump Organization directly employs about 600 staff in Scotland, including at the historic Turnberry course on the country's west coast.

A promised luxury hotel and 500 homes have yet to be built, but Malone said the Aberdeenshire project is "multi-phased" and plans are afoot to develop cottages and lodges for tourists.

When the Scottish government granted approval for the development in 2008, ministers stressed that the potential economic benefits would outweigh any harm to the environment.

Relations between Edinburgh and Trump have since soured, and hit a new low on Friday when Trump International branded Scottish leader John Swinney's endorsement of Kamala Harris in Tuesday's vote an "insult".

- 'Personal Toll' -

Trump handed control of his Scottish golf courses to his sons before he became president in 2017 but keeps a financial interest.

Last month, documents showed that losses at the Aberdeenshire course almost doubled in 2023 to more than £1.4 million.

"The first golf course dramatically over-promised and has under-delivered," said Chapman, describing the second course as "a vanity project" for the 45th president.

On the windswept sands abutting the new course, local residents appear split.

"I've no issues at all about it. I think if anything it's bringing business into Aberdeenshire," 63-year-old retiree Willie Rowell told AFP.

But David Louden, out walking his dog, said he was "embarrassed" by Trump's association with Scotland following the ex-president's conviction over hush money paid to a porn star.

"It's just a playground for the rich," said the 62-year-old, mentioning green fees that can total around £1,200 for four people.

David Milne, whose house overlooks the resort and its palatial clubhouse, has opposed the development since Trump first eyed the area almost 20 years ago.

He refused to sell his home for the development and says that in retaliation a row of trees and then a fence were built in front of his property.

Milne admits that fighting the plans has taken a "personal toll".

"It would be good for him to fade into the background and just vanish," the 60-year-old said of Trump.

That is unlikely with the resort considering a memorial on the estate to Trump's mother, who died in New York in 2000.

"Trump has absolutely delivered on his promise, and we are not finished yet," said Malone.