Environment

What's all the fuss about the environment anyway? There is a view that golf courses can attract wildlife and that must be a good thing for the environment.

That may be true if your start point is a piece of piece of reclaimed land or farmland, and the golf course is designed sensitively, with tree planting and bushes and areas of rough grass, minimisation of chemical fertilisers and weed killers etc. you will undoubtedly attract certain species which were not there before and this can be viewed as environmentally positive.

But that's not the story here. At Menie the proposed golf course involves severe damage if not destruction to a highly specialised and prized coastal sand dune system. This system connects the Ythan estuary, Sands of Forvie and Foveran links and the Balmedie Country Park. Parts of this system are of international and national importance, and even those parts which are not formally designated are recognised as being of SSSI quality.

The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, SEPA, has duties under the Environmental Protection Act, to protect the natural heritage and further the conservation of biodiversity that could be adversely affected by development proposals.

"SEPA objects to the above planning application on the basis of the permanent and significant loss of a UK Biodiversity Action Plan priority habitat which would significantly reduce the biodiversity of the local area."

Scottish Natural Heritage who along with SEPA have a statutory role have objected to the proposal to construct a golf course at the present location.

This development, specifically the championship golf course and associated infrastructure, will have significant adverse impacts both to the coastal landform interest and the coastal vegetation within the Foveran Links SSSI and also to the sand dune habitats south of the SSSI. The Environmental Statement clearly states this. The vegetation types include habitats listed within Annex 1 of the European Habitats and Species Directive. The construction of a golf course on this dune system will be contrary to the UK Coastal Sand Dunes Habitat Action Plan. SNH does not consider it possible to mitigate or compensate for the loss of this important habitat. SNH therefore objects to the proposal to construct a championship golf course in its current location. SNH can, however, see the potential to construct a single championship course on other adjacent land within the development site without causing significant impacts to this SSSI or sand dune habitats.