Holetown folk demand civic centre stay public as govt denies hotel deal

Holetown residents have demanded that the beachfront site of the existing civic centre remain a public space, even as ministers insisted no formal application for a hotel development was before them.

Professor Robin Mahon, representing the Sunset Crest Property Owners’ Association, said residents believe the site is too valuable to lose to private development.

The concerns were raised at Monday’s Ideas Forum at Frederick Smith Secondary School. 

Early last year, Prime Minister Mia Mottley revealed plans to move the civic centre inland and develop the beachfront site into a multi-storey hotel after the new Holetown Civic Centre is completed. In February 2025, Parliament acquired land for the centre.

Construction on the new centre at Trents began three months ago.

The association argues that the land should instead be retained for public use and enhanced as a multi-purpose coastal space, Professor Mahon said.

He said: “We are understanding that when the new civic centre is done across the way here, that the old site is going to be turned into a hotel, a multi-story hotel, and we have a better idea.

“Our idea is that the site will be much better used and of much greater benefit to Holetown and Barbados as a whole if its current functionality as a public coastal space is retained.”

Mahon noted that Sunset Crest, which consists of about 314 lots and roughly 100 acres, has a significant tourism component, including hotels, condominiums, rental villas and apartments.

Professor Mahon added: “Overall in Sunset Crest, we have about 500 tourism rooms. Most of them are locally owned, and they generate a lot of employment.”

He argued that the community’s tourism product depended heavily on access to substantial beach space, rather than simply having a narrow route to the shoreline.

The civic centre site is heavily used by residents and visitors for beach activities, water sports and entertainment, while small businesses, including vendors, beach-chair operators and other water sports providers, trade there.

He also pointed to Surfside Restaurant and nearby fishers, as well as the centre’s use during the Holetown Festival and other events.

“It will be very difficult to put a hotel there, even if some space is allocated, and retain that kind of functionality.

“If that functionality is lost, Holetown will be a radically different place to what we know now.”

The association is proposing that the site remain publicly accessible while being enhanced as a multi-use area where people can pursue livelihoods and residents and visitors can interact, he added.

But area MP Kerrie Symmonds stressed that no final decision had been made.

“The truth is that nothing has come to Cabinet, for Cabinet to determine,” he said.

Symmonds said he was unsure whether a formal application for a hotel had been made, but maintained that all options should be considered.

“If this was an easy decision, it probably would have been made a long time ago.”

He added: “I genuinely feel that we have to make the most of the space we have on this coast. There are not a lot of open spaces on the coast.”

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Environment Santia Bradshaw said checks had confirmed that her ministry had no application before it for a hotel development at the site.

“If an application were submitted for a hotel of more than 50 rooms, it would trigger an environmental impact assessment and require consultation with stakeholders and government agencies,” Bradshaw said.

“The intention of the developer is put out in terms of what they intend to do, all of the various state agencies are consulted, and they have to provide comments in relation to the proposed development.”  

She urged residents not to assume that any hotel project was already decided.

“I appreciate the passion, but I think it needs to be measured because I don’t want us to rush ahead and say that anything is a done deal,” she said. “Anything that is done must require the consultation that is necessary across the board.”

(SB)