Economist challenges Trump’s report on Menie Estate resort

A REPORT used by Donald Trump to justify plans for his £750million golf and housing development at Menie Estate has been challenged by an economist.

A report commissioned by Mr Trump from Strathclyde University in 2008 contained a number of “wildly optimistic” and “implausible” assumptions, says Paul Chesh-ire, emeritus professor of economic geography at the London School of Economics.

His concerns will be raised in a 90-minute independent documentary called You’ve Been Trumped, which is due to premiere at an international film festival in May.

He said estimates by the university’s Fraser of Allander Institute – that 4,700 jobs would be created during the course’s construction phase, with only 20% taken by non-Scots once it is operational – were wildly optimistic.

He said Mr Trump’s resort would affect hotels in the region more heavily than predicted, and he challenged the claim that construction of the course would create between 4,700 and 7,000 jobs.

“While the number will be more than zero, it will in my judgment be a good bit closer to zero than even the lower of those figures,” he said.

“The bones of this is that the resort is a highly upmarket housing development in a gated community on a beautiful stretch of coastline on a site of special scientific interest, but with hotels and a golf course attached.”

The documentary by Anthony Baxter, an independent film-maker from Montrose, contains interviews with residents affected by the resort.

A spokeswoman for Mr Trump said: “This project has been subject to the highest level of public and media scrutiny and has been approved. It is creating jobs and opportunities during a recession.”

Stewart Dunlop, the author of the Strathclyde University report, said: “We made allowance for the fact that the development may take business away from other hotels in the area, yet we still found that it would create a large number of jobs.”

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