Investigation work started last week at the site of the proposed wind farm, despite staunch opposition from Trump whose luxury golf course is located nearby.

Green campaigners have reacted angrily to Trump’s legal proceedings with World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Scotland director Lang Banks describing Trump’s actions as “sad” and claiming that defending the American’s legal action would cost Scottish taxpayers.

“In the end, just like the Scottish Parliament’s own inquiry, we hope the court sees through his bluff and bluster and agrees that giving the go-ahead to this development was the right decision.

Studies estimate that Scotland’s offshore wind industry could create 28,000 jobs by 2020 and contribute over £7bn of investment to the economy.

” It would be a great pity indeed if Donald Trump was in the end responsible for preventing Scotland from cutting emissions, creating jobs and boosting its economy,” said Banks.

The work on the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre (EOWDC) could lead to turbine foundation designs being developed at the test facility costing more than £230m.

The programme involves a series of geotechnical boreholes being performed between 2.5km and 4km off Aberdeen’s coast including drilling work to validate previous findings.

Earlier this year the Scottish Government approved consent for the project which has also been awarded up to €40m (£34m) of European funding.

Conor McGlone

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