Senator calls for Holetown Civic Centre to stay in govt hands

In a bold stance, Senator Dr Crystal Haynes has voiced strong opposition to the government’s proposal to relinquish control of the historic Holetown Civic Centre in St James to a private tourism operator.

In the Upper House on Wednesday she called for the land to remain publicly accessible, highlighting concerns over heritage preservation and the environmental impact on the already highly congested Holetown area.

While noting to other senators that she struggled with her feelings on the matter, she emphasised the importance of protecting Barbados’ historical and cultural sites, pointing to recent efforts at Newton Burial Ground and Golden Square as examples of the government’s previous promises of commitment to the island’s heritage. But she argued that Holetown’s story, which includes the presence of Amerindian communities before English settlement, deserves better recognition and protection.

“We have spoken a lot about heritage, we are actively building out at Newton Burial Ground, we have done some works at Golden Square so that people can better understand the story of what has happened there. Right now there is a single obelisk standing in commemoration of the landing; I think we can do more to tell the story of the site,” she explained. “Not just of English settlement, but the story of an Amerindian community who were here before all of us.

“I understand that there is tremendous economic value for any beachfront in Holetown, but can we save some of it for us? Even if we don’t keep the police station there, my personal view is that this should always be public accessible land. Ideally I would see a green space.”

Haynes also questioned the continued stance by successive administrations of continuing to build large-scale hotels and other tourism properties in the already congested area.

She said: “We’ve heard the cases being made about traffic congestion in the area…I don’t know if having a nine-storey hotel on one side of the canal and a seven-storey hotel on the other side of the canal will alleviate traffic congestion, it’s already a mess let’s be honest. We have not heard about environmental impact, the west coast is not sewered [so] when we are adding additional hotel rooms, how is this going to affect the coast? In terms of beach access, other than Batts Rock, and Folkestone, I can’t tell you a facility where I can part, have a sea bath, turn around and shower, pack my bags and leave comfortably.

“Coastal development along the west coast since the 1950s has allowed wealthy, usually foreign developers, to come and build wall to wall. We have no view, and if you want to get on the beach we are squeezing between a couple walls,” the senator stated.

The senator also challenged the narrative that increased tourism investment guarantees quality employment for Barbadians, referencing concerns raised by the Barbados Workers’ Union that in addition to many hotel workers only being hired seasonally, some luxury hotel room attendants are not earning enough for the level of service they provide.

“I cannot sit here and be a part of something where I feel like we are perpetuating the problem. We need to be very clear on what the guardrails are for these developers. Tourism is notoriously extractive, we know that,” she said. “We heard about job creation but then still we heard the [Barbados] Workers Union overwhelmingly telling us that there are challenges with regards to the treatment of hotel workers.

“A lot of them are only being hired on a part-time basis [in the winter season], being sent home during the summer months [and] what we know is that the average room attendant in a luxury [hotel] is taking home $447 a week. So when we talk about job creation, we need to talk about the quality of the jobs that we are creating.”

She added: “What I would like to see in this new Barbados and in this new republic, let’s start having a conversation about Barbadian ownership. How do we get a piece of the pie, how do we participate?”

In taking somewhat of a supportive stance with his fellow senator, Reverend Charles Morris urged Barbadians to take greater ownership of their history, rather than simply seeking to tear down old structures.

“I feel a certain way, maybe not to the extent of Senator Haynes, but I am asking us that we take our heritage into consideration,” the Anglican cleric said. “Maybe what we need rather of tearing down buildings, tearing down statues, we need some of the parents to go with our children and say ‘this is beach, this is what happened’, and then they can be able to say to our children like the Israelites said to their children: ‘Lest you forget.’ (SB)