A COUNCILLOR has cast doubt on the true economic value of Donald Trump’s Aberdeenshire golf course to the local area, as the only hotel and pub in the nearby village closed its doors.

Independent Mid Formartine councillor Paul Johnston made the comments about the Menie Estate course after the White Horse Inn in Balmedie was forced to shut up shop on Friday night.

The inn went in to administration in January, having been reopened and refurbished in 2014 – two years after Trump’s Menie controversial course opened.

The pub closed its doors on the same day that environment watchdog Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) recommended the sand dunes surrounding the course have its status as a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) removed.

SNH said the course had “destroyed” the dune system, which is the fifth largest in Britain, causing permanent habitat loss.

Scottish Greens co-convener Patrick Harvie said the course had "ruined, destroyed and gubbed" the natural environment.

Trump International Golf Links Scotland’s executive vice-president, Sarah Malone, said the move was “political point-scoring” and added: “No other SSSI site in the country has been afforded the amount of funding or expertise that Menie has and continues to receive."

She added: "Before Donald Trump invested in the site, SNH had little interest in the SSSI at Foveran Links and did even less about it, and has barely been on property since.

"Trump International funds a team of leading geomorphological consultants, ecologists and environmental experts and has spent millions on the care, protection and maintenance of the small area of SSSI in Scotland that it owns and yet SNH has offered no support, guidance or help."

Councillor Johnston told The Herald on Sunday the destruction of the dunes was “a huge tragedy”, but added that he felt it was not only the environment which had been damaged by the course.

He said: “The village of Balmedie has just lost its only pub and hotel. The White Horse Inn shut its doors last night, having gone under. There is no economic boost to this area.

“The community is split. Those who lived in Balmedie would have mainly been in favour of the development because it sounded really good and most people didn’t understand what the nature of the dune system was about, they liked it and they didn’t think it was going to be destroyed by a golf course.

“However, things didn’t turn out quite the way they thought.There hasn’t been as much economic benefit...

“On balance, the community is still relatively split but definitely more towards thinking that the cost of losing the dunes – the cost of everything else – has probably outweighed any benefits that are ever likely to emerge from this.

“It is a subtle change over the years, but certainly that is the reaction that I get as a local councillor. "