CAMPAIGNERS have said they will call the police over the alleged disappearance of a rare plant from parts of a protected Highland beach on which developers are aiming to build a golf course.
The revelation comes from newly published submissions to Scottish Government ministers, who are considering whether to approve plans to build an 18-hole course at Coul Links, near Dornoch.
The grassroots group Communities 4 Coul (C4C) is behind the plans, which will be passed to US billionaire Mike Keiser to complete if approval is granted.
However, environmental organisations have rallied against development of the triple-protected beach site, with groups including the National Trust for Scotland, Scottish Wildlife Trust, and RSPB uniting under the “Conservation Coalition” umbrella to lobby ministers to block the development.
Local campaigners have organised against the proposals under the name Not Coul, while the government agency NatureScot has also opposed the golf course going ahead.
Submissions from the Conservation Coalition, NatureScot, and Not Coul – as well as responses from C4C – have all now been published by the Scottish Government’s Planning Appeals Division, revealing a major row over the alleged disappearance of the rare plant Baltic Rush from one part of the site.
In Not Coul’s submission, the group wrote: “Not Coul informs Scottish ministers that all above-ground aerial stems of Baltic Rush have recently been removed from one location within the Coul Links Ramsar sector.
“That location was known to Not Coul, featured in the 2024 accompanied site visit, and was witnessed by others on 11 June 2026. Not Coul will report the removal to the police or Procurator Fiscal in due course in case the removal amounts to criminal conduct.”
In a response to Not Coul, C4C said the group had made “a series of frankly outrageous and unsubstantiated claims”.
“The suggestion that C4C is guilty of some apparent malpractice is without any foundation and taints Not Coul’s submission,” the developer added.
Not Coul alleged that Baltic Rush had disappeared from a part of the site which is earmarked to become part of hole 16 in the planned golf course, while C4C disputed that the claimed position is accurate, saying it was “only assumed from visual appearance of a small-scale orientation map”.
Baltic Rush and the integrity of the protected dune system at Coul Links – which forms part of the Loch Fleet Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), the Dornoch Firth and Loch Fleet Special Protection Area (SPA), and the Dornoch Firth and Loch Fleet Ramsar site – are central to questions of whether the golf course development can go ahead.
Last year, the Scottish Government published a new policy stepping up protections for Ramsar sites, including by mandating a Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) for any developments affecting one.
The updated policy means ministers must be able to conclude beyond reasonable scientific doubt that the development would not adversely affect the integrity of the site before granting consent.
NatureScot then conducted a “shadow” HRA for Coul Links, which concluded that assessments had “not demonstrated that there will not be an adverse effect” on the integrity of the sand dunes or the population of Baltic Rush.
C4C have urged ministers to look at the nearby Royal Dornoch golf course, claiming that Baltic Rush “thrives” there as “mown surfaces have enabled it to flourish”.
The group offered to “undertake an updated Baltic Rush survey of the footprint of the golf course as a planning condition”, adding: “If any Baltic Rush is found in the footprint, the golf course would avoid that location.”
In May this year, a Freedom of Information request revealed that officials had recommended SNP ministers to block the golf course proposals. However, no final decision has yet been made.
C4C have argued that the development would create local jobs while also safeguarding the integrity of the protected natural site.
“The reality is that the dune system at Coul Links will be improved significantly as a result of the proposed development,” C4C said in their submission to ministers.
However, a spokesperson for RSPB Scotland has refuted that, saying: “[C4C] claim a golf course is needed to improve the rare wetland habitat, and the tapestry of wildlife it supports. But the facts show the opposite: development would cause irreversible damage to this extraordinary place.
“Alongside other environmental organisations and local community group Not Coul, we will keep fighting to save Coul Links.”
