Last edited Sun Oct 18, 2020, 04:13 PM - Edit history (1)
The second course was slated from the start, but it's taken a long time for Trumpco to decide to press on. While the first course was being built and Trumpco decided to bully the neighbours at Menie, Trump was crying poverty because of the economic downturn, and used that to explain the delays and incomplete facilities at Menie.
There were also plans for extensive housing development, without which a friend of mine high up in planning in the area says the whole scheme wouldn't be financially viable, and shops etc. Many promises were made about jobs etc. which have not been fulfilled.
Trumpco has tentacles through the media and council in the area, which explains some of the laissez-faire attitude locally.
The existing course at Menie has never turned a profit, and Trump Turnberry in Ayrshire was also suffering even before COVID. Golfer friends of mine have sworn never to golf at a Trump course. I think the grand vision was that the courses would draw wealthy golfers from the US etc., which hasn't happened on any significant scale. Turnberry would have been in the running to host the Open, but this became politically impossible after Trump's various racist outbursts. Trumpco also wants an extensive housing development at Turnberry, but that seems a non-starter at the moment.
There have been noises about raising an Unexplained Wealth Order to try to untangle what's been happening financially. The suspicion is that money laundering may be involved.
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