AS Donald Trump spent yet another weekend on the golf course – the 12th round in his nine-week presidency – there was another storm brewing over his controversial club in the north-east of Scotland.

In his latest book, Great Again: How To Fix Our Crippled America, the 45th President of the United States of America claims plans to build a new course alongside the Trump International Golf Links in Balmedie have already been “approved” by Aberdeenshire Council.

This, the local authority points out, is fake news.

In the book, which was published at the end of February, Trump says his existing course spans “more than three miles of spectacular ocean waterfront”. It adds: “It opened on July 10 of 2012, and a second 18-hole course has been approved.”

According to Scotland on Sunday, The application for the new MacLeod course – named after Trump’s mother, Mary Anne MacLeod – doesn’t come before Aberdeenshire Formartine area committee until April 25 at the earliest.

According to the environmental consultants Ironside Farmer this will be no shoo-in, as Trump’s new course will have “a degree of overlap” with the land he already owns and Balmedie Country Park, the stunning 14-mile long beach stretches along the coast.

Eleanor Munro, a council environmental planner, has warned of a “significant adverse impact” on public access, with only two access routes proposed.

She said: “On the basis of the information supplied to date, I would anticipate regular conflict between the public and the golf course, particularly over the southern section of the course, both during construction and following completion of the golf course.”

David Milne, a critic of Trump who lives in a former coastguard station overlooking the Balmedie clubhouse, said: “The boundary with the country park is going to be affected by the course, but the Trump Organisation seem to think they can do whatever the hell they like and get away with it. Trump is just a bully.”

In a statement, Trump International Golf Links said it already had planning permission for the second course, citing a 2010 outline application and masterplan consent. The organisation said the current application was for the “next stage” construction of the course.

It’s been a bruising weekend for the US President. His attempt to repeal the American Health Care act, known as Obamacare, was scuppered last Friday after Republicans refused to back him. The billionaire businessman is used to getting his own way, and his defeat at the hands of his own lawmakers saw him sulk away from Washington to his golf club in Virginia.

Rivals point out that each trip to the golf course costs US taxpayers $3 million, so he has already run up a $36m bill.

Democrats are currently attempting to introduce the "Mar-a-Lago" act, which shares a name with Trump’s private members club in Florida and is also an acronym "Making Access Records Available to Lead American Government Openness."

If it is passed, the government would have to publish White House visitor logs, something done regularly by the Obama administration but has since ended since President Trump took office. It would also mandate the release of visitor logs at other locations where the president conducts business – such as Mar-a-Lago.