Southlands protestors urged to buy the property
By Sam Strangeways
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Around 100 campaigners attended the candle light vigil 100 at Astwood Cove in Warwick .
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Photo Glenn Tucker
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Protestors against the controversial Southlands scheme were urged last night to raise enough money to buy the land to prevent the luxury hotel being built.
Environmentalists Stuart Hayward and David Wingate told a gathering of more than 100 campaigners at Astwood Cove in Warwick that they needed to find out how much it would cost to buy the 37-acre site on the South Shore.
Dr. Wingate said: "I believe there is enough money in this very wealthy island and enough public concern and support... that if the land at Southlands is offered we could buy that back." He added: "Let's help to build a war chest for the purchase of open spaces." Mr. Hayward said: "We need to get funds."
The pair were speaking at a candlelit vigil organised by student Susanna Merlo in protest at the decision by Cabinet last week to approve a Special Development Order for the Southlands resort, which would be managed by the Jumeirah Hotel Group.
Critics claim the hotel would destroy one of the Island's last remaining areas of open space and are begging Environment Minister Neletha Butterfield not to sign the order, which would allow owners Southlands Ltd to fast track the Planning process without a comprehensive environmental review being conducted.
The row turned nasty earlier this month when Nelson Hunt, from Southlands Ltd, clashed with members of Bermuda Environmental and Sustainability Taskforce (BEST) at an early morning protest.
He likened the protestors to beggars and told them: "If you don't want us to build on it, buy it. This is a private concern. Go and get a cheque, put the cheque on the table and then we can talk."
Ms Merlo, from Southampton, advertised her vigil through the social networking internet site Facebook and by word-of-mouth. She told The Royal Gazette: "I thought this would be a nice way for people to come out and not feel uncomfortable and not feel threatened. We are still hoping the Minister will hear us. She still has that opportunity. It's not over until she signs it."
Shadow Environment Minister Cole Simons was at the vigil and said he backed the idea of raising enough cash to purchase the site. "Everything has a price tag," he said. "Make an offer to the developers. At the end of the day, this is a commercial venture."
Earlier in the day, he issued a statement criticising the approval of the SDO. "It is reprehensible that the Brown Government continues to unilaterally pass a number of Special Development Orders," he said. "Premier Brown and his Cabinet Ministers cannot and must not continue to treat the tax paying public of Bermuda with such arrogance and contempt."
He added: "The reality is that nobody was ever going to be allowed to stand in the way of whatever deal Dr. Brown struck with the Jumeirah Hotel Group."
Last night's vigil saw those against the Southlands scheme bow their heads in prayer and sing a Bermudian version of Woody Guthrie's famous protest song This Land is My Land.
Mr. Hayward told those gathered: "The benefit of Southlands is that it has drawn us together. Let's make Southlands the lynchpin from which an environmental movement gathers strength so that nothing like this happens again."
Meanwhile, environmental pressure group Greenrock yesterday called for the Architects' Registration Council to launch an investigation into the Southlands development.
The organisation claimed that having no environmental impact assessment breached the Architects' Code of Conduct, which requires architects to have "due regard to their wider responsibility to conserve and enhance the quality of the environment and its resources".
Greenrock president Erin Moran said: "There are a number of factors about the Southlands development that require further review and public feedback which makes this matter less about private property being developed but rather how will this project impact the general public from a sustainable development perspective."
