Donald Trump: First Minister is 'hell bent on destroying Scotland'

STV

US tycoon Donald Trump has written to First Minister Alex Salmond accusing him of seeming "hell-bent on destroying Scotland's coastline" with wind turbines.

The billionaire businessman, who opposes plans for an offshore wind farm to be built near the site of his luxury golf resort in Aberdeenshire, called the turbines "ugly monstrosities" and "horrendous machines".

A planning application for the 11-turbine European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre off Aberdeen Bay was submitted to Marine Scotland last summer. A decision is expected to be made later this year.

The businessman has halted work on his resort until the decision is made by the Scottish Government.

He has written to the First Minister saying: "With the reckless installation of these monsters, you will single-handedly have done more damage to Scotland than virtually any event in Scottish history.

"You seem hell bent on destroying Scotland's coastline and therefore Scotland itself."

Mr Trump also said he would never be "on board" with the project, which he called "insanity".

In the letter, he wrote: "As a matter of fact, I have just authorised my staff to allocate a substantial amount of money to launch an international campaign to fight your plan to surround Scotland's coast with many thousands of wind turbines."

He added: "Please understand that I am doing this to save Scotland."

 

Niall Stuart, Chief Executive of Scottish Renewables, added: "Who is Donald Trump to tell Scotland what is good for our economy and our environment?

“Offshore wind is already attracting billions of pounds of investment and supporting hundreds of jobs across Scotland, including in his mother’s hometown of Stornoway.

"There are so many mistakes in the ‘trumped-up’ nonsense that it’s difficult to know where to begin. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever that these two developments cannot exist side by side.” 

 

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