It's hard to believe it is only the eighth day of the inquiry - somehow it feels like I've never done anything else. However, today was the start, and it turned out the end our oral evidence and big congratulations to Dr Martin Auld our East of Scotland Regional Director and Jonathan Hughes the Head of Policy for the Scottish Wildlife Trust who were our key witnesses and performed their task brilliantly. It's genuinely tough putting yourself in the firing line at an inquiry and the amount of preparation required is enormous. They did a great job and very shortly I'm going to take them out to the pub and buy them a beer.
However, quote of the day probably goes to the Scottish Natural Heritage witness who, when asked about creating wetlands on golf courses pointed out that of course you could create wetlands - particularly like the one in the picture he was being shown - as it had been created using a liner, akin to a garden pond. He also mentioned that if they wanted that kind of wetland then a few gnomes might not be completely out of place either.
One of the most interesting elements to come out of today was the sheer scale of the mitigation work being proposed. On paper saying you're going to move 35 hectares of habitats sounds biggish - but it's hard to imagine. Martin put it into context by pointing out that to move that type of habitat, even working pretty much flat out (and using fairly big buckets - a source of quite a lot of discussion during the day that I won't dwell upon) would take you about two and a half years and cost upwards of £6million. An examination of all the financial material in front of the inquiry doesn't reveal any costings for the mitigation work, the closest thing being £650,000 estimated for 'stabilisation' work.
Martin was asked a lot of questions about the alternative design we've put before the inquiry, designed by Mr Mike Wood. Perhaps not surprisingly they tried to show that it was less well developed that the one they'd put in - hardly news given the timescales and our resources. The also tried to suggest it was more environmentally damaging - which was pretty baffling given it avoids the most heavily protected, sensitive and least replicable part of the site. I remain genuinely disappointed that Trump International have been unwilling to meet us even half way on this proposal.
Perhaps it's also worth mentioning that the first member of the golf club has been signed up... and it's Sean Connery... who was talking about it while doing a press event with Alex Salmond on another golf course just outside Aberdeen yesterday. Apparently he's signed a deal to hit the first ball if the development gets approval, which I thought was old news. Sir Sean said "I don't know too much about the environmental issues but if they can be settled then it's a fantastic opportunity." Rest assured that we will do everything in our power to bring the best ever Bond up to speed with the environmental issues, so that he will see that our alternative course design is also a fantastic opportunity, that doesn't wreck the unique site.
Of course, the First Minister is barred from commenting on the proposal right now under planning rules. He didn't comment, but he did appear with a high profile supporter; I wonder if he'll make similar appearances with opponents?