Fresh blow for Trump’s Scottish golf resort

The long-running saga of Donald Trump's attempt to build a £1bn golf course - plus 950 flats, 36 villas and a 450-room hotel - on a previously undeveloped beauty spot north of Aberdeen took a fresh turn this morning when he flew in to check on progress.

The American tycoon's arrival was overshadowed by news that the pressure group Tripping Up Trump (TUT) have used a technique pioneered by opponents to Heathrow's third runway in order to block his plans at Menie.

TUT's spokesman, Martin Glegg, said the group had bought an acre of land Trump needs for his development from farmer Michael Forbes (above, right). The group are now in the process of selling off tiny parcels of that land to members of the public who don't want to see the resort built.

They hope the extra bureaucracy generated by dealing with multiple owners will stop, or at least slow down, Trump's attempt to get the land by compulsory purchase. "It won't just be a few local families Trump would have to take to court to compulsorily purchase," said Glegg, "it will now be hundreds of others."

The eccentrically-coiffed billionaire was holding a press conference in Aberdeen this morning, with his son Donald Jr at his side. A spokesman for the Trump organisation told the BBC they were not worried by TUT's action – and said it would have no impact on the development.

Trump, whose mother was Scottish and who is a keen golfer, bought the Menie estate north of Aberdeen in 2006. His development plans were controversial because the site is one of unsurpassed natural beauty - and the golf course encroaches on part of an SSSI, a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest.

The Menie dunes form part of the fifth largest – and least disturbed – sand dune system in the UK, and are a haven for birds. Trump's plans involve stabilising the dunes – part of their unique scientific interest is that they are mobile.

Trump was refused planning permission for his development in 2007 by the local planning committee, but that ruling was overturned by the Scottish Government in 2008, when