Donald Trump wind farm hearing set for November

American tycoon Donald Trump's legal hearing against the development of an offshore wind turbine test facility off Aberdeenshire, Scotland, has been set for November 12.


Trump launched legal proceedings in May in an attempt to stop construction of the £230m offshore wind farm being built near his luxury golf course.

Green campaigners have criticised Trump’s actions with World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Scotland director Lang Banks commenting: “It’s such a shame Trump remains hell bent on using his billions to try and undermine Scotland’s ambition of becoming a cleaner, greener, job-creating nation. He may be happy wasting his own money. But, defending his legal action is likely to cost the Scottish taxpayer too”.

According to Banks, research shows that Scotland could meet its climate and energy targets using renewables and energy efficiency.

“In the end, just like the Scottish Parliament’s own inquiry, we hope the court agrees that giving the go-ahead to this development was the right decision,” Banks added.

A report published last week by RenewableUK showed the number of people directly employed by the UK’s wind industry has increased by 74% from 10,579 in 2010 to the current 18,465.

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 creating green jobs and boosting its economy,” said Banks.

Leigh Stringer

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