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Trump £1bn golf report imminent Salmond's Trump action 'cavalier'
(about 5 hours later)
The Holyrood inquiry into the handling of Donald Trump's £1bn golf resort application is set to be published. First Minister Alex Salmond took a "cavalier" approach to his involvement with Donald Trump's £1bn Scottish golf resort, a parliament committee said.
First Minister Alex Salmond and the Scottish Government's chief planner Jim McKinnon were called before a committee of MSPs. Holyrood's local government committee raised concern that a government decision to call in the plans came after "two five-minute phone calls".
They had met with Mr Trump's representatives shortly before the golf resort application was called in. But, following an inquiry, the cross-party committee described the unprecedented decision as "competent".
A public inquiry into the golf resort application at Menie is set to start in June. Several SNP committee members disagreed with a series of its conclusions.
Ministers called in the planning application for the development in December. The local government committee launched its inquiry amid concerns of the government's handling of the application, for the Menie Estate in Aberdeenshire.
Mr Trump said he would seek a different location if the process took too long. The conclusions are based entirely on innuendo and accusation Kenny GibsonLocal government committee deputy convener
He wants to build two courses, a hotel and housing. The Scottish Government decided to have the final say on the plans after they were narrowly rejected by Aberdeenshire Council. They will now come before a public inquiry, due to start in June.
The plans, which were narrowly rejected by Aberdeenshire Council, have sparked opposition from local and environmental groups but support from business leaders. Mr Salmond had met with Mr Trump's representatives before the call-in, but insisted he did nothing wrong, saying meeting all sides of the debate was vital, given that the development is planned for his Gordon constituency.
In its findings, the local government committee convener Duncan McNeil also said it was "extremely unwise" for the first minister to "directly facilitate" a meeting between Trump representatives and Scotland's chief planner, Jim Mackinnon.
'Political tittle-tattle'
The committee report stated it seemed "astonishing" to accept Mr Salmond - who is removed from the decision-making process in the application - did not perceive there might be a risk in his actions, which might then lead to legal action.
"The committee believes that, far from taking a precautionary approach, the first minister was cavalier in his actions and displayed, at best, exceptionally poor judgement and a worrying lack of awareness about the consequence of his actions," the report concluded.
But the committee's deputy convener, Nationalist MSP Kenny Gibson, said the inquiry had wasted months of parliamentary time on "political tittle-tattle" and found no wrong-doing on the part of Mr Salmond and other ministers.
"Instead of using that evidence, the conclusions are based entirely on innuendo and accusation," added Mr Gibson, who along with committee members and SNP MSP colleagues Alasdair Allan and Bob Doris dissented from several parts of the report.