From todays Scotsman :
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=155572005You won't see the trees for the woods
ALAN RODEN AND JACKIE KEMP
WITH one sweeping fairway stretching for a quarter of a mile along the banks of the Firth of Forth, it promises to be one of Scotland’s most attractive golf courses.
Tourists from the United States are expected to flock to the Duke of Hamilton’s Archerfield estate to play the course and stay in exclusive course-side lodges.
But the prospect of the beautiful greens and fairways appearing along the East Lothian coastline has not been greeted with universal approval.
For the woodland from which they will be created is home to hundreds of deer, badgers, buzzards and otters.
A deal has been signed which will see up to 10,000 trees chopped down to make way for the course, which is the third to be created in the grounds of the historic estate.
The 40 hectares of Scots pines and sycamores, including some which are more than 300 years old, would disappear in a bid to attract wealthy American golfers to the region.
Felling has already started at Archerfield, and the directors of the Duke of Hamilton’s holding company, Hamilton Kinneil, made a final decision on Tuesday to sign over the lease of the woods for 99 years to Renaissance Golf Design, a US-backed firm, and Tom Doak, the course designer.
In place of the woodland, he wants to build a state-of-the-art golf course which will have no members, but 20 golf lodges will be built to accommodate tourists from the US.
Mr Doak already has outline planning permission from East Lothian Council as an "enabling development" to fund a restoration of the historic landscape of Archerfield House and its grounds.
The neighbouring £55 million Archerfield Links, which is owned by Edinburgh pub tycoon Kevin Doyle and has two high-quality 18-hole layouts, also occupies the estate.
The Gleneagles-style redevelopment of the 540-acre land between Gullane and North Berwick will eventually include a five-star hotel, a spa, 50 holiday cottages and 100 luxury homes, and is expected to create more than 500 jobs.
Bill Nimmo, chairman of the Gullane and Dirleton History Society, said he has walked through the woodland every Sunday for 15 years.
"It’s a very secluded area and is an attractive place to walk," he said.
"Outline planning permission has already gone through, a deal has been signed, and the whole thing could now slip through without any more consultation."
Local residents said the new development will be the 21st golf course along the East Lothian coast.
Members of Archerfield Links are being asked to pay a one-off £15,000 fee on top of an annual charge of £1000. More than 100 people have so far signed up.
And the development has also fallen foul of environmentalists, including South of Scotland Green MSP Chris Ballance.
He said he was "concerned" about the loss of an "important habitat for bio-diversity".
The seclusion of the Archerfield estate has meant that wildlife has flourished, with the woods being home to deer, badgers, buzzards, fulmars, otters and butterflies.
John Ellis, chairman of the Edinburgh and Lothians Badger Group, said: "We have had people down there to monitor where the badgers’ setts are.
This doesn’t sound very environmentally-friendly to me."
Despite the protests, the plan is likely to get the final go-ahead after Scottish National Heritage came out in support of the proposals. Spokesman Alan Leitch said: "Archerfield is not a particularly interesting wood."
Mr Doak, the course designer, added that his minimalist approach will do as little damage as possible to the environment.
Fraser Niven, chief executive of Hamilton Kinneil, said the existing Archerfield Links development by Caledonian Heritable was funding the restoration of Archerfield House and the aim of the golf course development was to "restore the historic landscape and have a positive effect on the local economy".