Aberdeen/Aberdeenshire has amongst the lowest unemployment rates in Scotland & an average skill level/salary expectation that is a lot higher than the vast majority of jobs in the hotel, catering & golf biz. So apart from a few high-profile token posts, just where is Trump going to find these people? We can't staff our existing hospitality sector without resorting to the gangmasters as it is.
We have a fairly good idea what the structures might look like - Hideous neo-baronial piles that hark back to the days of Victoria & patronising Balmorality - The very sort of tartan kitsch that I would hope a modern Scotland would be trying to put behind it. They are also
totally out of scale with anything in the area & its infrastructure.
Here is a link to the application, its a lot of reading but worth persevering with:
http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/planning/apps/detail.asp?ref_no=APP/2006/4605
Equally, nobody has completely ruled out the possibility of developing the Menie estate, even some of the main opponents were initially in favour of the idea, until they saw just where parts of were to be sited (ie the SSSI) & the amount of housing tacked-on. Trump would have given himself a much easier ride if he had left that small part of the overall site alone.
£55 million for Turnberry!
That is well below the asking price of a few months ago (£110mil OTOH?) & a huge amount less than the sellers bought it for. Despite a tenfold increase in Exec subsidy/promotion, Golf has been in steady decline for the last few years but this seems worse than I ever imagined.
We have seen no shortage of rich men shouting about investing money round here in the last few decades & few if any of them have left the place better off for it.
Three examples:
Malcolm Forbes (US publishing) - Got himself a fine castle & gave us a picnic, library & a few bequests in return. His sons now keep a tax-deductable art collection there & keep-on the picnic. (hey, do I remember that Trump & Forbes have a bit of rivalry going?)
John Kluge (US TV) Bought an estate next to Balmoral & ran it into the ground over a few short years, properties derelict, workers laid-off, US staff & hunting methods imported. Result was that most of his guys were run-out of the country ahead of cruelty charges & the National Trust have been trying to undo the serious damage to one of our most valuable stretches of upland environment ever since. This has cost us an awful lot in the long run.
Armand Hammer (oil) - Piper Alpha & dereliction.
I could go on & on........
Yesterday's evidence also turned-up that Trump's investment is only going to be about £12 million, not the "personal" billion he had previously claimed. I think you can appreciate that even with investment from his (possibly local?) partners, there are several ways a developer can speculatively lever ongoing funding when there is approval for an initial 500 houses in an area short of 3+ bedroom places. Webster also went no higher than £500 million for the total scheme & I simply don't believe this might go-off without significant tax incentives from the Exec to reduce the £100 million tax estimate.
Also, a 10 year timescale for the hotel/golf side of things but an accelerated 6 year plan for the housing screams
scam to me. Contrast that with Blairs, where the development/housing plan has to run strictly together.
