An ocean away from his New York-based real estate empire, Donald Trump is looking to slap his bold-faced brand on a rugged corner of Scotland, where he plans to build what he calls one of the world’s greatest golf resorts.

The development mogul has never shied from pushing the envelope in New York City — after months of complaints and protests for slipping through what critics call a zoning loophole, for example, his Trump SoHo condo-hotel is slated for an official groundbreaking ceremony this week — and he is now bringing his characteristic large and luxurious style to the northeastern reaches of Scotland, where his plan for a $2 billion golf course resort is gaining steam in a lengthy approval process.

The project, the Trump International Golf Links, Scotland, cleared a major hurdle last week when a local governmental body recommended approval, saying its economic benefits outweighed the environmental concerns raised by critics.

The development has been a subject of considerable attention for the past few months in Scotland, as its two 18-hole links courses, a 450-room five-star hotel/resort, a conference center, and more than 1,500 units are on a scale larger than the windblown, former mining hub of Aberdeenshire is accustomed to.

“We’re looking to build the greatest golf course in the world,” Mr. Trump told The New York Sun yesterday. “We’ve had tremendous support, and I look forward to getting it done.”

The site is a 1,400-acre swath of rolling hills and sand dunes along the coast of the North Sea, a landscape considered ideal for the links-style courses that attract avid golfers to Scotland, the birthplace of the sport.

The scale of the project easily outdoes Mr. Trump’s four American golf developments, which include a course in Westchester and one in Bedminster, N.J.

The plans for the resort side of the development suggest the Trump Organization is aiming at the very top end of the market, as the early visual designs show distinct Victorian-style buildings with pointed turrets, and crystal whisky decanters as part of an ornate hotel lobby.

The project has generated a considerable amount of opposition from environmental groups, with the criticisms surrounding the Trump Organization’s insistence on building some of the course on fragile habitat.

The environmentally sensitive area is on certain dunes that play host to a wide variety of rare, sensitive species, environmental advocates say, an area known as a site of special scientific interest. Europe’s largest conservation charity, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, has come out against the plan, as have a collection of other environmental groups.

“The development is going to destroy some very valuable habitat which is in very short supply in Scotland,” the chief executive of the Scottish Wildlife Trust, Simon Milne, said. “Some golf courses can be good for the environment. It all depends where they’re built.”

Scottish law permits the development to proceed on the area, so long as various local governmental bodies give their approval, and officials from the Aberdeenshire council government last week issued a report recommending approval for the project. While the development has many layers of approval yet to go — the Trump Organization is hoping to receive the final go-ahead by December — the recommendation represented a major obstacle.

“Had that report been negative, we would have had a real uphill battle,” the Trump Organization’s managing director of international development, George Sorial, said. “It was fairly overwhelming positive endorsement.”

Should construction start in January as hoped, Mr. Sorial said the first course could open within two years, with the entire development slated to take eight to 10 years.

The target demographic for the project is a high-end mix of a corporate and vacation crowd from around the globe, according to Mr. Sorial, with Americans expected to compose a large chunk of the market.

New luxury links golf courses have been sprouting up throughout Ireland and Scotland in recent years, as Americans and others are attracted by the somewhat romantic notion of playing on the hilly, rugged landscape particular to the area, analysts say.

Developments in the countryside of Scotland and Ireland also tend to be less hotly contested by residents, a recently retired golf course consultant, Sam Hines, said, and that attracts American developers wary of building in America.

“You can’t build many courses in the U.S. anymore,” Mr. Hines said. “So you go to markets where there’s proven markets first.”