"I do not want to see any trees being cut down as I don’t want any red squirrels to lose their homes or be frightened. I don’t want the beautiful landscape to be ruined by more houses. I like to walk to school through the woods and I don’t want to lose this peaceful and natural walkway. Which is a safe way to walk to school with no cars.”

Rebecca McIntyre, 12, is one of 164 people who have written eloquent objections to the Prince’s Foundation’s proposed model community in the market town of Ellon near Aberdeen.

The Scottish Wildlife Trust is also opposed. Douglas Gooday, of the trust, wrote: “It will cause the destruction of an important wildlife habitat. Aberdeenshire Council has assigned protected status on the existing woodland.”

Red squirrels, wiped out in much of Britain, are so common in Ellon’s woods that they are something of a nuisance to traffic. A road sign warns: “Caution Red Squirrels Crossing”. Buzzards and sparrow hawks share the ancient wood, which can be seen on the Old Map of Ellon, dated 1748-55.

The Prince of Wales is hardly known for sentimentality towards woodland creatures, but chopping down trees to make way for roads is an unexpected consequence of his sustainable development vision.

Sources close to his foundation said that it had not been involved in “the detail” of the planning application. “Measures will be put in place to allow squirrels to cross safely,” they added. “The woodlands are in a poor condition and there is a chance for access and management to be improved.”

In Ballater, site of another model community that the Prince wants built in Scotland, the presence of the Royal Family looms large. It is the nearest settlement to their Deeside retreats. The pub is called the Balmoral, the restaurant is the Prince of Wales and the bakery has huge royal crests outside.

The proposed development will be partly built on grassland described as being of very high environmental sensitivity. “The field contributes to the setting of Monaltrie House,” a report by the National Park also states. This is a listed building dating back to 1782 and its owner, Mikhail Pietranek, is the Duchess of Cornwall’s favourite interior designer. He wrote in objection to the housing that “ it would detract from the beauty of the house and grounds”.

The land is also in the shade of Craigendarroch (“hill of oaks”), a popular walk. Local residents say that in summer, deer can be seen sneaking from the river across the fields. Sources close to the foundation say that “green corridors” would be created “to allow deer to pass through the village unimpeded”.

Nobody in Ballater will criticise the foundation publicly. One local man who objects to the plan said: “To attack Prince Charles would certainly be detrimental. As a village that’s very pro-royal, they would chuck me out.”

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