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The Scottish government said today it would step in to try and save a controversial golfing development planned by US tycoon Donald Trump, which was facing a mountain of red tape from the local council.
The government said it would "review" plans by Donald Trump to build the troubled US$2 billion ($2.65 billion) project in Scotland.
It said it was intervening because the project, to build two championship golf courses, around 1000 homes, a luxury hotel and 36 villas on a pristine stretch of northeast Scotland's coast, was too "important" to be dealt with by the council.
Real estate magnate Trump had threatened to relocate the project to Northern Ireland after it was rejected by Aberdeenshire Council on environmental grounds last week.
In a statement issued early today (NZT), a Scottish government spokesman said it would be "calling in" the project for review.
"Ministers recognise that the application raises issues of importance that require consideration at a national level," he said. "Calling the application in allows ministers the opportunity to give full scrutiny to all aspects of this proposal before reaching a final decision."
The Trump camp hailed the "good news" the project could still go ahead after it was rejected by the council's infrastructure and services committee. Committee chairman Councillor Martin Ford used his casting vote to break a 7-7 impasse over the scheme, which an earlier panel had approved.
Billionaire Trump has said the project would meet environmental concerns, create thousands of jobs and "put the northeast on the global tourist map".
Neil Hobday, director of the Trump project, told Reuters by telephone the tycoon was "very pleased" with the government's "foresight and bravery".
"He (Trump) is very impressed," he said, just minutes after the announcement. "We are very pleased ... in the fact that the government has stepped in at this stage. It is still live."
Anne Robertson, head of Aberdeenshire council, which rejected Trump's plans, said the government "quite rightly feels this application raises issues of such importance that they require scrutiny at a national level".
"What is important in all this is securing the economic future of the north-east of Scotland," she said in a statement. "If the decision of Ministers to call this application ... keeps it alive, then we welcome this intervention."
An emergency council meeting will still take place next week, Robertson said.
Environmentalists had feared extensive construction on the sensitive site would damage wildlife and local habitats.
About a third of the land that Trump wants to build on is classified as an area of "special scientific interest".
Ford has previously told Reuters the risk to the local environment was "too high a price to pay".
- REUTERS
