Donald Trump’s plans to build 550 homes in Aberdeenshire have been approved by councillors.

Permission has been given to the Trump Organisation’s developer to construct the homes, as well as retail and leisure facilities, at Menie Estate, home of Trump International Golf Links, which is owned by the US president.

The application was passed by 38 out of 62 councillors during a meeting in Aberdeen on Thursday.

Councillors approved the scheme despite criticism that it deviated from original plans for the site, which included a 450-bedroom hotel as part of the first phase of the luxury golf resort.

The hotel has not been built and accommodation for tourists is currently limited to 21 rooms at the MacLeod House hotel and an accompanying lodge.

Fifty of the 550 houses agreed are designated holiday units and 500 a mixture of private residences, rental properties and holiday homes.

The planning committee recommended the application for approval and said it would “still result in development that will provide economic and social benefit to the local area and region”.

Councillor Martin Ford, a critic of Donald Trump, did not vote and said his previously voiced views would exclude him from taking part.

Scottish ministers called in the original planning application and granted approval for the controversial development in 2008.

Plans for a second golf course on the Menie Estate near Balmedie were approved by Aberdeenshire councillors on Tuesday.

Sarah Malone, Trump International Golf Links executive vice-president, said: “I’m absolutely delighted. Common sense has prevailed.”

She said the approval for the plans was “a clear endorsement by the northeast of Scotland that the Trump development to date is already a success”.

The properties will be built on an 84-hectare site within the Menie Estate.

Planning manager Mairi Stewart said the new plans were “perhaps less attractive” than the original development proposals but acknowledged that the economic climate had changed.

Council leader Jim Gifford expressed disappointment that there would no longer be a five-star hotel but accepted “things have moved on”.

Councillor Richard Thomson, who opposed the proposals, said: “I think we can do better than this and so can the applicant.

“We were promised something transformational with this development, I don’t think that this is it.”

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