I was born and brought up in this area and was lucky enough to spend my teaching career here. I am a golfer, a nature lover, and I support Coul Links.

Having worked for many years with junior golfers I have watched their love of the game lead many to greenkeeping positions throughout the Highlands and worldwide.

But this is not just about golf – through its investment our area, an environmentally sympathetic golf course at Coul brings the potential to provide our youngsters with wider opportunities to find employment and develop careers.

Sheila Robertson, age 66, Golspie KW10

I fully support this second application for a world class golf course at Coul links and hope it gets the backing from the powers that be. Having this opportunity on our door step to provide so many jobs for our younger people and bring in much needed money to our area can’t be missed out on.

I moved here over twenty years ago from a small village in Moray. In a school class of 17 children not one us now stay there, we all had to move for work as jobs were few. Golspie is bigger but keeping our youth in and around our villages in employment is massive for all communities to survive and develop. We have some wonderful golf courses in the surrounding areas and having Coul Links as a championship built course would further enhance the reputation of golf in the area.

John Smith. Age 55. KW10

We have lived in Embo for twenty years (resident in Dornoch area since 1988) and are fully aware of the importance of providing long term work prospects for young people. With a background in the hospitality industry and over seventy five years of enjoying golf I can see the vast potential in the sympathetic nurturing of the Links both for golf and the natural fauna and flora.

Kenneth Bromage, Embo

I was really disappointed to see the original Coul Links application rejected when common sense suggested that its existence would be so very beneficial to the land it occupies and a local community so bereft of opportunities for future growth and employment opportunities in this remote are of the Scottish Highlands.

Make no mistake, the land is scrub land. There are literally hundreds of thousands of acres like it in the counties of Caithness and Sutherland. Most of these acres have remained the same for centuries. They will not be developed in any shape or form.

The area of scrubland we are talking about may be a haven for wildlife but it is unmanaged, out of control and unloved. It is not frequented by tourists and few locals use it. Any form of management is a plus whether associated with sporting pastimes or not.

In my view it is absolutely essential that an opportunity to bring employment to the area and increased local spend to small businesses should be fully supported by government. Give the North of Scotland something to shout about. Give the land a chance to be loved and give new employment opportunities to an area so in need of them.

Bernard Ledwith, KW9, Age 66

I was distraught when the original planning application for Coul Links was turned down and considered at the time that a generation of youngsters were being denied the opportunities that would have derived from this critical investment in the Dornoch Firth area.

The project had almost universal local support and the arguments are better presented on your excellent website than I could ever put.

I find the environment and ecological arguments particularly persuasive, which is ironic since it was the intervention from a remote environmental lobby that appeared to scupper the original proposal.

I wish you every success in your endeavours to develop and protect Coul Links for generations to come.  I am sure that you will have the full support of the local community.

Steve Darlington, KW9