He's been described as the real "local hero", the man who stood up to a cocky billionaire and refused to sell his home to make way for the "world's greatest golf course".

But though Michael Forbes, a fisherman and quarry worker, said "no" to the wealthy industrialist Donald Trump, he may have to get used to the sight of him across the sand dunes they both covet just north of Aberdeen.

Though Trump once described Forbes's home as a disgrace, he has apparently decided to move in next door, upping the ante in a neighbour's dispute that has gained notoriety across the world.

After two years of defiant jousting with the New York-based property tycoon, Forbes has learnt that Trump intends to convert Menie House, the 14th century listed manor which sits next to the proposed resort, into his family's "official Scottish residence".

On top of that, Trump's advisers have signed a legally-binding outline planning agreement for the £1bn golfing and holiday resort that could envelop Forbes's 23-acre plot.

It could take until 2010 before building work begins, but the work of finally designing the 500-home housing estate, 36 luxury villas, 450-bed hotel and high-rise timeshare flats has started in earnest.

Forbes, however, remains as pugnacious as ever.

In his first interview since Trump formally agreed to the Scottish government's terms, Forbes insisted he intends to stay.

"I won't be moving. He's made a fool of the government, he's made a fool of the council, but he won't make a fool out of me. They know to keep away from me now."

The ill-will between the two men began when Trump's team first tried to buy Forbes out. His home, his mother's mobile home and his sprawling collection of decrepit outbuildings and rusting tractors is in the middle of Trump's resort.

After Forbes refused Trump's offers, which rose to £450,000 for the land and a promise of work for Forbes, the tycoon's temper boiled over in October 2007, when he described Forbes's land as a "disgrace" and "disgusting". That immediately entrenched Forbes's resistance, and made him an instant celebrity.

Forbes is now getting fan mail from across the world, including cheques which he doesn't cash. One Canadian woman writes to him every week. "They keep telling me to keep up the good fight. They just can't stand Trump: everything he touches turns to rubbish. I have never ever had a bad letter; it's really good, like."

Forbes believes the global recession will hit Trump's plans far more severely than the developer will admit. "I don't think it will ever start because I don't think he has the money - no-one else has money - so why has he got some? If Trump is a billionaire, so am I."

But if construction does start, Forbes is apparently planning a campaign of resistance. Rumours are circulating among his neighbours that Trump will surround Forbes's land with a high fence. Forbes has cryptically hinted that he plans to respond.

"I will keep all that quiet just now," he said. "Oh aye. I always have something up my sleeve."

Forbes is now embroiled in another dispute with a neighbouring family, the Hewisons.

Their immaculate villa and outhouses are surrounded on two sides by Forbes's land. "They [are] itching to sell, but they can't sell because I own everything around them, but Trump won't be interested in them unless I sell," he said.

However Mark Hewison, who runs a local driving school, believes Trump will eventually get his own way.

"I'm sure at the end of the day, Mr Trump will get everything he wants and requires, and he will just develop around it," Hewison said. "He will keep gathering up all the pieces of the jigsaw."

"If we don't sell it to the Trump Organisation, the property will still be worth a fortune in the middle of that development. Wouldn't another American want to have the same postcode as Donald Trump's Scottish residence?"

Trump's project director at the Menie estate, Neil Hobday, said they had no plans to reopen negotiations with either Forbes or Hewison for their land - they would build around it.

But he confirmed the recession was influencing their planning.

The resort's timeshare blocks and housing estate, which will be sold off to finance the entire development, have to be built in phases under the planning agreement. But it could take more a year to complete all the designs and get formal planning consent - and that would allow Trump to buy more time.

It will be "at least 12 months before the first shovel hits the ground," Hobday said.

"The market has changed quite dramatically, I think we all know that; catastrophically in some places and some countries," he added. "We're not looking at a very attractive market just now. We would be hopeful that when we start building these things, the market will have returned."