A petition calling for a public inquiry into the handling of Donald Trump’s controversial golf project on the North Sea coast has attracted more than 11,000 signatures, exceeding its organisers’ expectations.
David Milne, an opponent of the scheme at Menie, north of Aberdeen, said he had hoped for 2,000 signatures.
The petition is being lodged at the Scottish Parliament today, two weeks earlier than planned.
Mr Milne said: “There’s clearly a growing appetite to get to the bottom of this fiasco, and to make sure no other community anywhere in Scotland ever has to face down the combination of a bullying developer and officials determined to see them get their way.
“This is not a party political matter, it’s a systematic failure. At Holyrood and locally we have seen successive administrations of various colours cosy up to Mr Trump.
“It is now up to the MSPs who sit on the Public Petitions Committee to choose: do they want to find out what went wrong and ensure it never does again, or do they want to guarantee the whole story is never even told?
“I am confident that they will listen to the public and do the right thing, and I look forward to having an opportunity to discuss these issues with them in person.”
Mr Milne wants the inquiry to look into how local and national government dealt with the Trump Organisation over the project.
The timescale would cover former first minister Jack McConnell’s Labour-led Scottish Executive, Alex Salmond’s SNP Government and Aberdeenshire Council, which was controlled at the time by Liberal Democrats.
The planning application was initially rejected by a local authority committee, causing turmoil among councillors, and was controversially called in by the Scottish Government. The First Minister became local MSP for the area in 2007.
The plan was subsequently rubber-stamped by the council, then approved by Finance Secretary John Swinney in November 2008.
Mr Trump is now locked in a heated battle to stop an offshore windfarm being built within sight of his golf course.
He has also proposed building a second course at the resort.