US President Donald Trump's family business partially destroyed legally protected sand dunes in Scotland when it built a golf course north of Aberdeen, according to government reports released in response to a freedom of information request.
Scottish Natural Heritage, which monitors the country's sensitive and scientifically important sites, found that construction of Trump International Golf Links Scotland "led to the direct loss" of up to 68 hectares of the 205-hectare Foveran Links site.
The damaged and destroyed drifts, one of the best examples of moving sand dunes in Britain, developed over 4,000 years, according to the agency.
"The construction has removed the vast majority of the geomorphological interest within the vicinity of the golf course," Scottish Natural Heritage said in the documents.
The reports were released following a public records request made by Bob Ward, policy director of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics.
The Trump Organization's representative in Scotland didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Also Read
The golf course was completed in 2012 and is part of what the Trump Organization envisions as a larger project that could include two golf courses, a 450-room hotel and as many as 1,500 homes.
Scottish authorities approved the outlines of the project in 2008, though each phase will require additional review. The company last week unveiled plans to invest 150 million pounds (USD 196 million) in the second phase of development.
During the original approval process, Trump promised to minimize any environmental damage, saying he was "fully committed to mitigating the effects of the course on the environment."
"I think the problem here is the disregard they've shown and the way in which they made promises which he has not kept," Ward said. "I think personally that the Scottish government here has not been as strong as it should have been in holding Mr. Trump to account, and I hope that they will now see the need to do that."
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content