Coul Links scenario could benefit from Spanish case study.
30% of Coul Links floods during the the colder months to create a winter wetland habitat and foraging zone for birds. Building a golf course on Coul Links would very likely damage these wetlands, and possibly even destroy them.
If the case of Scottish Government approval of the golf course plan, it is at present unclear how that might affect the UK Government’s obligations to the Ramsar Convention. Coul Links is part of a Ramsar site which the UK Government is obliged, under the convention, to protect. However, planning policy in a devolved matter. Newly worded “guidance” introduced in 2019 appears to dilute protection arrangements in Scotland compared to the rest of the UK.
Not Coul will be seeking to ensure the issue is properly addressed in the forthcoming Inquiry. Ramsar procedures were used a decade ago to prevent a proposed golf course damaging a Ramsar site in Majorca. The case led to changes of national environmental law in Spain. You can read the Ramsar Assessment of the case below.