Scottish ministers reject the Coul Links golf course plan AGAIN despite Highland Council having approved it

Communities for Coul's 18-hole course near Dornoch, about 45 miles north of Inverness, has been blocked on ecological grounds. Highland Council granted permission in 2023, but ministers called the decision in during 2024. They ruled the revised proposals would harm important habitats and species on the Sutherland coast. Ministers also refused a course on the same site in 2020.

The dunes are part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest, which sank the plans.

Ministers followed a public inquiry's recommendation backed by a coalition of charities.

RSPB Scotland's Duncan Orr-Ewing said the course would have 'damaged it beyond repair'.