When Donald Trump wanted to develop a huge project on Merseyside

President-elect Donald Trump is the owner of plenty of golf clubs around the world and he once had interest in establishing one on Merseyside. The 78-year-old property magnate is a keen golf player and he began acquiring courses just before the turn of the Millennium.

Mr Trump, who was declared winner of the US presidential election on Wednesday and will return to the White House in January, opened his first golf course in 1999 - The Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. He had four courses in the USA by 2007 and bought more with the intention of redesigning them following the 2007 to 2008 financial crash.

The Trump golf empire now stretches well beyond the USA as he has courses and golf hotels in Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, the Republic of Ireland and Scotland. It could have stretched to Merseyside, if Mr Trump had his way.

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Wirral Council first revealed plans for a Hoylake golf resort after the success of hosting the 2006 British Open. The 2006 tournament was played at Hoylake's historic Royal Liverpool Golf Club and was won by Tiger Woods, who successfully defended his title.

According to reports from the time, the council wanted to construct the resort next to Royal Liverpool and also to enhance the municipal course nearby. A spokesperson from Wirral Council said in 2008: “It’s very much a partnership with the neighbouring Royal Liverpool Golf Club.

"When we secure an investor we will also be enhancing Wirral’s municipal golf course, so there will be three courses within five-minutes of each other. It will enhance the facilities available for golfers who want to stay at the resort but play on all three courses.”

In January 2008, a representative from the Trump Organization said his company could be interested in investing in the project. On January 23, 2008, “speaking from Trump’s Fifth Avenue headquarters in New York”, Sutton Wheeler told the ECHO his company was excited at the prospects for Hoylake.

Mr Wheeler, then-project manager at the Trump Organization, said: “We would definitely be interested, it’s certainly a place to do business because it has such a great deal to offer. Royal Liverpool obviously has a rich tradition of golf. I was on the course at the Open and the scenery was absolutely beautiful.”

At the time, Mr Trump was also pushing ahead with controversial plans for a £1bn golf development near Aberdeen. Mr Wheeler told the ECHO that the Scottish project would not have prevented the businessman from considering a Hoylake investment.

He said: “We’re going ahead with plans for Scotland and I don’t think two such sites would be too close – if anything they would add value. We can create a development here in New York and have another just two blocks away, so that’s not an issue. Everyone knows what the Trump name stands for and a lot of people want to be part of that.”

However, the recession which followed the financial crash killed Wirral Council's initial plans for the scheme. It was revived after Royal Liverpool hosted the 2012 Women's Open but the Trump Organisation's interest appeared to have cooled.

In 2017, following the submission of a Freedom of Information request, the ECHO reported that Mr Trump's company did not take part in the procurement process for the revived plans. The local authority said: “Wirral Council can advise that The Trump Organization did not participate in the Hoylake golf resort procurement exercise initiated in 2013, therefore no correspondence is held between the Council, a person known as Sutton Wheeler or any other Trump connected business in connection with the Hoylake golf resort project.”

At that point, the development would have included two golf courses, a hotel, luxury homes, a spa and a health club on council-owned land in Hoylake. In 2015 legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus’s company was named preferred development partner for the project and in 2016, Celtic Manor – the company behind the South Wales golf resort which hosted the 2014 NATO summit and 2010 Ryder Cup – was named as the council’s preferred bidder.

However, the scheme never actually got off the ground. It was scrapped in 2019 following opposition from campaigners about the loss of greenbelt land.