Donald Trump's wind farm fight 'for Scotland's benefit'

Donald Trump said he wanted to protect "Aberdeen's beautiful coastline"

US tycoon Donald Trump has told Scotland's first minister that his wind farm fight is for Scotland's benefit and not just his luxury golf resort.

On Wednesday, the billionaire wrote to Alex Salmond objecting to the plans for offshore turbines near his development.

In a follow-up letter, he went on to describe the wind turbines as "ugly".

A planning application for an 11-turbine wind farm off Aberdeen Bay, 2km (1.2 miles) from his golf course, was submitted to Marine Scotland in August.

The European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre is a £150m joint venture by utility company Vattenfall, engineering firm Technip and Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group.

The Trump Organisation filed its objection to the planning application on Wednesday.

In his follow-up letter, Mr Trump wrote: "I know that our recent objection has caused a huge amount of publicity about the horrible idea of building ugly wind turbines directly off Aberdeen's beautiful coastline.

"Please understand that I am not fighting this proposal merely for the benefit of Trump International Golf Links. Instead I am fighting for the benefit of Scotland.

"Every location in the United States with a magnificent coastline - nothing compared to Scotland - has successfully defeated these horrendous looking, noisy and inefficient structures."

He added: "In any event, I think that my mother, Mary MacLeod, who was born in Stornoway, would be very proud of what I am doing for Scotland. It is not only for my project, it is more to preserve Scotland's beautiful coastline and natural heritage."

Mr Trump's golf development on the Menie estate on the coast is nearing completion.

Work on the £750m project, to also feature a hotel and homes, began a year ago.

A Scottish government spokesman had said ministers would assess every planning application on its merits, taking into account the views of consultees, interested parties and the public.

It is six years since the idea of a wind farm in the waters off Aberdeen was first mooted.

The marine consortium applying to build the wind farm has said the 11 next-generation wind turbines would be constructed as a testing ground for future developments.

It is expected it would create jobs and economic benefit by attracting scientists, researchers, engineers, offshore wind supply chain companies.