SCOTTISH ministers have pledged to rescue Donald Trump’s plan for a £500m luxury golf resort after it was rejected by local planning officials last week.

Alex Salmond, the first minister, who has backed the development, is said to be “furious” that councillors narrowly rejected the proposal on Thursday, by eight votes to seven.

Aberdeenshire council is

to call an emergency meeting to discuss options for overturning the ruling, which has provoked a backlash from politicians who fear it will send the wrong message to foreign entrepreneurs thinking of investing in Scotland.

If it is not reversed, the American billionaire, who has already warned that he may take the project elsewhere, could appeal to the Scottish government. Last week senior Scottish National party sources indicated that such an appeal would be regarded favourably by ministers.

“I think that to say there is astonishment in the government that it was rejected would be an understatement,” said a senior source. “There is no basis in planning for that application to have been turned down.”

Another SNP source added: “Ministers are very unhappy about the decision. The message it gives is that Scotland is not interested in doing business.”

“I’m encouraging Mr Trump to appeal,” said Brian Adam, the Nationalist MSP for Aberdeen North. “I’m more than happy to put my head above the parapet because I feel this is the kind of development we want for Scotland.”

One senior Nationalist politician said 6,000 jobs had been threatened “just because some yahoo on the planning committee” said no.

The proposed golf complex on Trump’s 2,000-acre Menie estate at Balmedie, near Aberdeen, would include two championship golf courses, a hotel, a clubhouse, 500 private houses and 950 timeshare holiday flats.

The resort, described by Trump as the “greatest golf course in the world”, would generate almost £60m a year for Scotland in tourism and employment spin-offs.

It has been opposed by environmental campaigners, who claim that it would destroy 4,000-year-old sand dunes, designated a site of special scientific interest and home to rare feather moss, lichens and other plants.

Ministers are keen to find a swift solution, aware that Trump has held talks with the authorities in several other European countries, which would be keen to attract the golf resort.

The tycoon told The Sunday Times last week that he would probably appeal to the Scottish government but was reluctant to become mired in further wrangles.

“I’m disappointed,” he said. “The polls told us that 91% of people were behind me. I’ve already had many calls from across Europe begging me to take my golf course there.”

Times Recommends

• UK regional accents thrive against the odds
• ‘Scarecrow’ wind farms put rare birds to flight
• What an anti-climax: G-spot is a myth