Under the headline Golf course to make Trump green with envy, The Scotman talks about the Machrihanish Dunes golf course in Mull of Kintyre and the approach taken by its American developer. In contrast to Menie, no conservation group opposed the 200-acre, £4 million course.
There are some choice quotes from the developer, the project architect and SNH.
David Southworth, the American owner said "We have the same colour passport, but other than that we are totally different people."
Paul Kimber, project architect, said: "Some people try and bully their way with money or jobs. We decided to take a different approach and work with ecologists right through the whole project. When we first made some plans we got it completely wrong and had to start again from scratch."
Andrew Campbell, SNH operations manager for Argyll and Bute, lavished praise on the golf course. "The spirit of co-operation and collaboration has made it a really delightful site. We have had no conflict at all on this. We have got a SSSI being managed in an almost perfect way."
He added; "The end result is not only a fantastically challenging golf course but one that is sustainable, resilient and in harmony with the wildlife and landscape – an example that can be followed worldwide."
There are some choice quotes from the developer, the project architect and SNH.
David Southworth, the American owner said "We have the same colour passport, but other than that we are totally different people."
Paul Kimber, project architect, said: "Some people try and bully their way with money or jobs. We decided to take a different approach and work with ecologists right through the whole project. When we first made some plans we got it completely wrong and had to start again from scratch."
Andrew Campbell, SNH operations manager for Argyll and Bute, lavished praise on the golf course. "The spirit of co-operation and collaboration has made it a really delightful site. We have had no conflict at all on this. We have got a SSSI being managed in an almost perfect way."
He added; "The end result is not only a fantastically challenging golf course but one that is sustainable, resilient and in harmony with the wildlife and landscape – an example that can be followed worldwide."
Hear, hear!
And Here, Here (but sadly not!)
It does all of course depend on what the SSSI is all about. Some SSSI designations can be compatible with golf. But if the designation is mainly about geomorphology - and Foveran Dunes are one of the largest mobile sand sheets in Europe - then stablising the dunes and grassing them over means that the reason for the designation is lost. Simple to understand really.
Great article, and what a perfect rebuttal to the Trump line.
ReplyDeleteSlightly out of date, but the latest Private Eye has a little piece on the "Lovable billionaire Donald Trump" in their Rotten Boroughs column this week that shows what you can expect next...
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