The controversial proposed development of St Lawrence Gap and surrounding areas has not yet been given the green light, concerned residents were assured on Friday as tempers flared at a town hall meeting where Government ministers insisted the plan was simply to improve the long-neglected area.
After grilling Minister of Housing Dwight Sutherland and Acting Minister of Tourism Kerrie Symmonds about the planned compulsory acquisition of several properties in the Christ Church community, residents were told nothing was set in stone and they would have a say on the way forward.
A candid Symmonds also agreed that residents should have been notified of the plans before the publication in the Press last week of a Government notice which stated that several parcels of land situated in Bath Village, St Lawrence Gap and Dover were needed for public purposes, “namely road improvement, car parking, environmental improvement and tourism development”.
The parcels of land identified included commercial and residential properties.
Minister Sutherland, responding to concerns about what the development would mean for people living in surrounding communities, said no final plans had been made for the area.
“We have not gone to Cabinet with any final decision. This land for tourism development will be vested in BTII [Barbados Tourism Investment Inc.] who then will invite bids and, of course, you will sit and you will have your say,” he told residents gathered at the St Lawrence Primary School.
In his opening remarks, Symmonds, who is the substantive Minister of Energy and Business Development, said that the Government’s intention was not to relocate the residents whose properties were mentioned in the newspaper notice, but to bring necessary upgrades to their neighbourhood.
“The fact of the matter is… the St Lawrence Gap that we grew up knowing is not necessarily the St Lawrence Gap of today and we have to refresh the tourism product in St Lawrence Gap. In fact, up until maybe a couple months ago, it was beginning to look exceptionally sleepy because until the COVID restrictions had been fully relaxed as they were a couple of weeks ago there was not a lot of activity taking place in the Gap anymore,” he said.
“If you are going to attract people here and be competitive and allow our hoteliers and our restaurateurs and our taxi drivers and all of those other people who make a living from tourism, then they are going to have to be able to find access to employment opportunities and to an ambiance that is very inviting…. That, in a nutshell, is really what this investment is supposed to be about.”
Loreto Duffy, one of the first community members to alert the public about the proposed plans for the area, said that although progress was welcomed, the way in which the Government had gone about the process so far had left a bitter taste in residents’ mouths.
“There is no question in anybody’s mind; we know the Gap is in shambles and has been for the last 15 years and nothing has been done, and I think everybody here would really welcome progress. But it has to be sustainable progress and it also has to be progress that does not negatively impact the people of the area or the environment of the area. I think that is the main crux of this issue,” she said.
“It was handled badly; Ralph [Thorne, Member of Parliament for Christ Church South] and I got the notification [about the plans] the same way – somebody in New York sent it to me – and when I saw this I immediately spoke to people in Bath Village, Paradise Village, most of who don’t even have social media, some don’t even get a newspaper [so] they were not aware it. When they saw their names in the newspaper, it was a shock.”
Lamenting that residents had also not been consulted on previous development in the area, Duffy added: “In fairness to people in this Gap, we have never had a say on anything, especially some of those monstrosities that have gone up on the east end of Dover…. Nobody asked us if we want a nine-storey building to go up, or a six-storey or whatever blocking off our light, blocking off our air, causing traffic problems…. This is why we try to use this as the opportunity to [be heard].”
Reverend Sandra Hazell of the St Lawrence Church said residents were still in the dark as to the Government’s intentions for the area and the developer’s interests.
“I am trying to decipher between what are the developer’s intentions and what are Government’s intentions because that is the main crux of the matter. We are hearing you are going to take Ms Hinkson’s land which [is] right behind the playing field there. Fair enough, you are only going to take a little. What is the car park you are going to put there?
“Is this going to be a monstrosity of a multifaceted car park which is going to look really ugly? So we need to know exactly what is being done by the developer, what is being done by the Government, and we sincerely pray that the Government is not doing this in the name of the developer or handing over our lands to the developer,” Reverend Hazell said.
Minister Symmonds admitted that the authorities had failed to notify residents in a satisfactory manner about the proposed plans, particularly given the number of properties that would be affected even if on a small scale.
“I will be the first person to say, Dwight, through no fault of your own perhaps – maybe it’s a systemic failing borne out of years of practice that I think has to be cured – but we have to come to a point in Barbados where if we are going to have a notice of any type of this nature put out, that you do not take the community impacted by the notice by surprise,” Symmonds said frankly.
“When people live in a community, they expect the courtesy to be extended to them of you saying, whether for better or for worse, come and sit down and talk with me…. I don’t want to wake up one morning and hear across the street from me, A, B, C, is going to happen and nobody said a word to me, because I am paying land taxes, I am a citizen with rights and so on too, so I get that.”
