Donald Trump has had the last laugh in a battle over flags flying at his Aberdeenshire golf resort, winning approval for a 25-metre-high flagpole at the course.

A Scottish government reporter has overturned a ban on the pole, complete with a huge saltire and “gold anodised ball” on top, after the president-elect was ordered to take it down by Aberdeenshire council because he had erected it without planning permission.

The dispute came to light in June when the then Republican presidential candidate was confronted with Mexican flags put up temporarily by four of his most critical neighbours in an effort to show solidarity with Mexicans smeared by Trump during his presidential campaign.

Mexican flags were fluttering from three temporary poles in sight of his clubhouse when Trump arrived at his International Golf Links resort the day after he had officially opened his newly refurbished hotel and course at his second golf resort, Turnberry in Ayrshire.

Aberdeenshire’s planning committee told Trump that the flag “was overbearing and out of proportion in its setting” and ordered him to take it down. The flagpole is far larger than average and 16.3 metres higher than the roof of the single-storey clubhouse it sits next to, towering over the neighbouring dunes.

An identical flagpole and flag outside the resort’s boutique hotel at Macleod House was permitted by the council, even though it too was erected without permission, because it was screened from view by surrounding trees.

But Claire Milne, a planning reporter appointed by Scottish ministers to adjudicate after Trump appealed, has found in his favour. She has decided that since the clubhouse is 30 metres long, and the pole sits alongside a car park and numerous lamp-posts, it is not out of place.

“Seen in this context, the impression of the overall height of the flagpole is considerably reduced and I do not find it obtrusive or out of proportion to the scale of the existing buildings or its immediate surroundings,” Milne ruled.

She acknowledged that the flag, which is of a similar size to a large saltire now flying over Trump’s Turnberry course, is more noticeable, but she rejected the complaints of his neighbours and the council that it was too large and out of proportion.

“The flag, as a moving component, and the pole, due to its slender nature, do not intrude into the exposed long expansive views across the area. Therefore the overall integrity and character of the landscape, which includes the golf course, is maintained,” she said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Trump’s neighbour David Milne poses for a photograph beside the Mexican flag and the saltire flying from the top of his house. Photograph: Michal Wachucik/AFP/Getty Images

David Milne, whose home in a converted coastguard station overlooks the flagpole and clubhouse, said the reporter’s decision was “ludicrous”, adding: “The flagpole should be proportionate to the height of the building and its surroundings. It’s visible from Aberdeen beach [10 miles away].

“As far as I’m concerned, it’s just another tick-the-box exercise that reporters have gone through to give Trump his way. That flagpole is hideous, unnecessary and inappropriate, completely out of scale to the location and the building.”