Southlands beach access

The Southlands deal is a done deal, the Special Development Order will allow for construction to be fast-tracked for the building of a bunch of fractional-ownership cottages and condos and other luxury amenities. My feelings are that although it is a little disturbing that a large tract of open space and natural habitat for trees and animals will be destroyed, the land after all belongs to private citizens and they have the right to sell to whoever makes a bid for it.

What sparked a little curiosity, and blame this on my Barbadian pride perhaps, was the article in the Gazette today which featured this snippet:

Mr. Christensen said last night that if the public could gain access to the beach without going over "private" hotel property they would be entitled to use it.

"It will be like Cambridge Beaches, The Reefs and Tucker's Point, in that you can't walk across the resort property. But if you can get to the beach another way, such as by boat, then there's nothing to stop people using it," he said.

In Barbados, it's the LAW (pdf, sorry) that public access to a beach must be maintained, although it's hard to maintain as residents there scheme all kinds of methods of fencing off walkways and forcing people to trespass illegally if they want to get to the beach.

Unfortunately in Bermuda there doesn't seem to be an equivalent. It's sad that residents and visitors are restricted to which beaches they can enjoy. The 'boat access' alternative works if you have money, I suppose. But this is yet another reason I suppose, why I'm disillusioned by capitalism.