AN ABERDEENSHIRE councillor has accused Donald Trump's son of "overblown statements, exaggerations and made-up claims" about the family's controversial golf course in the north-east of Scotland.

Martin Ford, Green party member for East Garioch, hit out after Eric Trump - the 33-year-old son of the US President and business mogul - described claimed Trump International golf course in Balmedie could help revive the north-east economy following the slump in the oil sector.

Mr Trump, who replaced his father as head of the Trump Organisation last year, told the Press & Journal they had built "one of the very best golf courses in the world", adding: “I think economic stimulus and economic investment is crucial for an area and I think we’ve done that as well if not better than anybody. I think that should be praised. [This course] is very close to our heart. Look at our total investment in Scotland. Look at the hundreds of millions of pounds we’ve put in here. Look at the hundreds of millions of pounds we’ve put into Turnberry."

Mr Trump added that "no other developer in the world that has put in what our family has put into Scotland".

He said: “Think of the hundreds of people that rely on this property every day to put money in their pocket, to feed their families, to educate their children and the same thing with all the properties.

“Look at the construction jobs, for this it was hundreds of jobs. And what that does for the local businesses."

However, Mr Ford - a long-time critic of the golf course - dismissed Mr Trump's comments.

He said: "What we're getting from Eric Trump are the same overblown statements, exaggerations and made-up claims we've heard from his father since 2006. For example, the boast to have spent 'hundreds of millions of pounds' at Menie is not supported by the published information reported by the company. Nor are there 'hundreds of people' employed at the golf course. Clearly, Eric Trump feels no need to be constrained by the facts.

"Anything can be made to look so much bigger and more successful if you just dream up what you say about it with no regard to the truth.

"Like father, like son; fact and fantasy are treated as equal and interchangeable.

"There was one truly remarkable thing at Menie. An amazing coastal dune system, very sadly and wrongly no longer functioning as it ought and had done for probably many centuries. We have let down future generations by failing to protect this natural wonder."

Mr Ford chaired the committee which determined the planning application for the Trump course on the Menie estate. In November 2006, he cast the deciding vote, rejecting plans for the Menie resort.

However, the Scottish Government stepped in and the development proceeded. Mr Ford was later unseated chair of the committee in a vote by fellow councillors.