Documentary highlights how potential environmental damage has been disregarded because of the perceived benefits to the local economy

Members of the Scottish parliament should seize the chance to watch a special showing at Holyrood this Wednesday of an amazing film about Donald Trump's ruthless efforts to build a golf course on a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Alex Salmond's Aberdeenshire constituency.

You've Been Trumped raises serious doubts about the possible impacts of the development, which was given the go-ahead in November 2008 by Scottish ministers on the grounds that the purported economic benefits outweighed the severe environmental costs.

The film follows the brave struggle of local residents who oppose the proposed building of the coastal golf resort at the Menie Estate, near the village of Balmedie, eight miles north of Aberdeen.

The film's director, Anthony Baxter, throws a spotlight on the contemptuous way in which Trump deals with the residents, one of whom he describes, with characteristic rudeness, as living in "a slum" and "a pigsty". Baxter finds himself subject to shockingly hostile treatment by police as he attempts to record the concerns of the residents.

Perhaps the most scandalous aspect of this story is the fact that the residents have received such little support from the local media and politicians, who appear to have been dazzled by Trump's promises of new jobs and wealth for the region.

The billionaire property tycoon, who earlier this year briefly flirted with the idea of running for US president, purchased the Menie Estate site in 2005. The following year he submitted an application to Aberdeenshire council to build the two 18-hole golf courses along with a large luxury hotel, 500 private houses and about 1,000 holiday homes.

The application claimed that construction of the Trump International Golf Links (TIGL) would create more than 6,000 jobs.

However, the council's infrastructure committee rejected the planning proposal in 2007 by just one vote, only for the Scottish government immediately to call in the application on the grounds that it "raised issues of importance requiring scrutiny at national level".

John Swinney, the Scottish cabinet secretary for finance and sustainable growth, overturned the council's decision by announcing permission for the development in November 2008.

However, my colleague, Paul Cheshire, professor emeritus of economic geography at London School of Economics and Political Science, carried out his own assessment of the economic case for the development of the Menie Estate for You've Been Trumped. He was surprised to find that the Scottish government had not commissioned its own independent analysis of the likely benefits – instead, the government relied on an economic impact assessment carried out for TIGL by Strathclyde University.

Prof Cheshire describes that assessment as "wildly optimistic" because of its assumptions about the creation of new jobs for local people. He points out that constructing a golf course is not like building houses because very few specialist companies are capable of doing it. As it turns out, an Irish company is managing the construction of the resort, using mainly its own labour.

Prof Cheshire also stresses that building a luxury hotel to international standards is not a routine construction activity, and many of its materials will need to be imported. And, if it ever opens, the hotel will probably be staffed largely by migrant workers from outside Scotland, a suggestion strongly supported by the fact that Trump's plans include a 400-bed hostel for workers.

But most controversial of all is the way in which the potential environmental damage caused by the development has been disregarded because of the perceived benefits to the local economy.

The Menie Estate includes a magnificent stretch of sand dunes that form part of the Foveran Links SSSI. This special status was awarded to this 4,000-year-old site in recognition of its importance as the finest UK example of a dynamic system of wind-blown dunes. But the development of the Trump resort requires the "stabilisation" of the dunes, thus destroying their scientific value.

A number of environmental bodies, including Scottish Natural Heritage, objected to the Trump development because of its environmental impacts and argue that the site should be protected and conserved. But the Scottish government has ignored their concerns.

Salmond, the Scottish first minister, whose Aberdeenshire East constituency includes the Menie Estate, has given his full backing to the Trump development. He told the local Evening Express newspaper that "the economic and social benefits for the north-east of Scotland substantially outweigh any environmental impact".

Yet the decision to allow the development at the expense of such an important natural site illustrates a problem highlighted by the UK National Ecosystem Assessment (NEA) earlier this year. Its main finding was that "the natural world, its biodiversity and its constituent ecosystems are critically important to our wellbeing and economic prosperity, but are consistently undervalued in conventional economic analyses and decision-making".

The NEA pointed out that the coastal ecosystems are worth about £48bn, alone equivalent to almost 3.5% of the UK's gross national income, yet are increasingly under threat from "piecemeal development", citing the planned golf resort at the Menie Estate as an example where "even sites protected by SSSI status are not immune".

With much public debate over whether planning regulations are too restrictive, the Trump development in Aberdeenshire provides a stark reminder that politicians are already sacrificing some the UK's most important sites of natural heritage in the pursuit of economic growth at any cost.

• Bob Ward is policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at London School of Economics and Political Science.