Lawyers for Donald Trump could step in to oppose the Scottish Government in a landmark court case over a Shetland windfarm.
Scottish Ministers have appealed against a ruling from Lady Clark of Calton to uphold a challenge from campaigners against the 103-turbine Viking Energy scheme.
The judge ruled planning permission incompetent, as the company did not hold an electricity generation licence.
The appeal is due to be heard before three judges in February next year.
But the Court of Session heard yesterday there were parallels between the Shetland case and the Trump organisation’s legal battle over an offshore energy project near Aberdeen.
A judicial review hearing is due to start next month on the £240million European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre (EOWDC), which would be visible from the Trump golf resort at Menie, Aberdeenshire. Gordon Steele QC, for the Trump organisation, said an identical issue to that decided in the Shetland case arose in their action and asked for next month’s case to be discharged.
He said the Shetland action was brought by a local group with very limited funding, Sustainable Shetland, which would not argue the competency point in the appeal.
Steele said that if the Trump action was sent to appeal judges on the issue, they could provide legal opposition to the Scottish Ministers. But James Mure QC, for the Scottish Ministers, described the move as “a recipe for delay”.
Mure said many pending applications north and south of the border are affected by the case, and it was possible that government or industry in England may wish to become involved. He said the Trump organisation was keen to attack the Scottish Government decision over the EOWDC.
“This is an important project which in the opinion of the decision-maker, who granted the consent, is of very vital importance to the development of industry in the north-east and the achievement of targets for renewable energy,” he said.
He maintained that the best course of action was the Trump golf judicial review to proceed and for the parties to use the time available to them in November for the scheduled hearing responsibly.
Lord Woolman will give a decision today.
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