Barbados wetland habitat about to become sewage treatment pond?
Chancery Lane Development Proposal and Town Hall Meeting
Public Meeting: Be There!
Thursday March 18, 2010 7:30pm
St. Christopher Primary School, Christ Church
Chancery Lane Wetland is located on the south east side of the island just below the ridge of the Old Chancery Lane development. The development proposed for the area is very dense and large scale for the 80 ACRE site consisting of;
30 to 50 residential/villa lots (10,000-15,000 sq.ft.)
200 room Hotel on the beach front
215 Condominiums on the beach front (minimum 5 storeys)
Retail shops
A Sewage treatment plant & sewage ponds
Three (3) breakwaters built in the sea running parallel to the beach (Long Beach)
For those of you interested in finding out more about the actual development and the Environmental Impact Assessment you can find many of the documents online at the Long Beach resource centre on the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary website.
Whether you support the commercial, hotel and residential development of the last remaining dune habitat on the south coast or not – read the documents and attend the meeting – otherwise the economic and political elites will continue to do as they please with your future.
So far all the elites have to do is throw in a few words like “sustainable” and they get to turn any wetland bird habitat into a sewage pond and pour concrete where they like.
Further Reading
BFP March 7, 2010: Barbados Environmental Protection Department slams Long Beach development proposal
BFP March 14, 2010: Yes or No? Will Barbados Environment Minister Denis Lowe make a clear statement against development at Long Beach?
Barbados Free Press 
Oh that is such a beauty spot, so to turn it into a sewage treatment pond is criminal.
A sewage treatment pond? Well, it could be worse. They could turn it into a Nature Preserve. That’d fix us good!
Is it right that bulldozers are already working at the far end? did I overhear that right?
Go ahead, make it a sewage plant. Graeme Hall was a nature spot visited by many and look at it now. Why have eco tourism, tourists who enjoy culture, water sports, fishing and local food when you can sell the land for multi million dollars with condos built for those who can afford them.
Why not build walls around them (Port St. Charles being one of them) separate cultures, races.
Bury your heads in the sand and by the time you wake up…..it will be too late.
What happened to the Barbados I love ?
What happened to the Barbados I love ?
It is being hijacked by greed. The greedy guts people will eventually get their own comeuppance when no one wants to buy into their developments because Barbados is nothing but another concrete jungle interspersed with a few golf courses.
I spent nearly three hours at the meeting last night which was very well attended.
I came away with the impression that there is a huge disconnect between our tourism policymakers and Government departments like Town and Country Planning.
Possibly it is the price we are all paying for not having a tourism masterplan.
The people from Planning seems genuinly suprised by the fact that our 160 plus registered hotels barely reached an average annual occupancy of 50% up until the end of 2006.
Since 2007 that occupancy level has hardly likely to have increased due to the worst global economic crisis in 80 years.
Perhaps they were not also aware that within half a mile of the proposed development that there is a now seemingly abandoned condominium project
with about 50 unfished units.
Apart from the glaring environmental omissions, you would also have to question many of the figures projected.
The one that stood out to me, was a quoted figure of BDS$60 million to build a 200, 4/5 star room hotel.
Perhaps this developer should have built our Hilton. It could have saved the taxpayer millions of Dollars.
Very little mention was made of the potential devasting effect that it would have on the watersports sector, with the hundreds of wind and kitesurfers that are attracted to this very special piece of Barbados each year and the financial trickle down effect this brings.
And just to add, that average annual occupancy level of 50% means in reality that we have 3,500 hotel rooms EMPTY every night of the year.
I take my last comment back, re. the greedy guts people getting their comeuppance when no one wants to buy into their developments once they have made Barbados into just another concrete jungle, tourist trap.
It struck me after I posted that these people will be sure to have the money and resources to move on and go rape another island’s or country’s environment in their pursuit of the almighty dollar should they find they have killed the goose that laid the golden egg here in Barbados.
I also attended the town hall meeting at St. Christopher’s Primary School last evening. Here’s my take on it.
1. The Environmental Impact Assessment is part of the submission for an Outline Development Proposal. In such a proposal not all the design details are included because they can not be known until all factors have been taken into account (including public opinion). That explains many of the ifs, maybes, mights, coulds and possiblies that were evident in the presentations.
2. Here are some of the certainties:
a. There is no indication that current beach activities would be discontinued. In fact, the property fronts only half the beach length, so there is no direct effect on the southern half of the beach.
b. Public access to the beach is guaranteed as per law. This will be enhanced by provision of a public park and car parking area.
c. Existing dunes will be protected and possibly enhanced – not diminished.
d. Existing wetlands are to be reduced by reclamation of an area that was created artificially many years ago – and will be replaced by a larger wetland area below the western cliffs. Uncertainty remains about the relative qualities of the two areas.
e. The sewage treatment plant will use ultra-filtration techniques yielding a high water quality output that is suitable for re-introduction to the groundwater (ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sewage_treatment , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reclaimed_water , and http://www.lenntech.com/microfiltration-and-ultrafiltration.htm ).
f. The quoted dune height of 5 metres implies the first two storeys of any building behind the dune would not have sea views. For this reason, hotel accommodation is likely to be higher.
3. Here are some of the uncertainties:
a. Daily average number of persons on-site will increase, possibly to a total of 1000 visitors, residents, and staff.
b. Road access during construction and afterward will be an issue.
c. Existing water drainage/flooding problems need remedies rather than exacerbation.
4. Given the history of planning applications over the past 20+ years which did not come to fruition, it is unclear if this application is viable for this site. That viability can be judged in economic, environmental, and/or cultural terms. Each of us might have different weightings on these factors.
I can only express my memories of the swamp. A place where I indulged in two of my favourite pass times – ridding my BMX through it many time and studying the wildlife.
However, there is no place for nostalgia in the bussiness world.
For persons looking for a more sustainable way of utillising the swamp we must ask ourselves two questions:
1) Do we wont to turn our Island into a concrete jungle and do we need any more hotels?
2) Is It worth destroying the natural beauty of the island which is for most tourist, the main reason why they escape thier own cities?
Consider this.
The current tourism add for Barabados markets our island as a magical paradise and there is no caption of a concrete jungle.
Tourist will re- market the island by informing thier friends after a visit to Barbados that the add was a con; its paradise lost and it is another concrete jungle in the sun.
Barbados is a lovely island for the moment. Why should the remaining natural beauty spots be sold off just because, some short term capital is needed to service the national debt.
Adrian,
There may not be a Tourism Master Plan but there is Physical Development Plan 2003 and while this document cannot be a substitute for a Tourism Master Plan it does set the parameters within which the physical development of the island can be carried out in an orderly and planned manner.
If you read section 3.3 “Tourism” it sets out the guidelines under which future tourism development should take place. Summarising, some of the guidelines are as follows:
New beach oriented tourism should be focused in existing coastal districts and discourage expansion beyond existing developed areas.
Coastal Proposals have to be consistent with the policies of the Integrated Coastal Zone Management Plan.
Proposals have to reflect the policies pertaining to Natural Heritage Conservation Areas.
As a consequence of the PDP 2003 the application for the development at Long Beach has set in motion the process that has required the developer to do an EIA and for that EIA to be scrutinized by the relevant government departments and now the public.
What was heartening to see at the public meeting was the excellent contribution made by the learned gentlemen from UWI.
Note that the final decision on this application rests with the Minister not the CTP.
Click to access plan03sec03.pdf
To all concern people of this lovely island that we call Barbados:
Let it be known that MR. TAAN ABED is in NO way involved with the Long Beach Project. He carries the “ABED” name only and therefore all those who put him with this project should do their homework before linking him with this. Mr. Taan Abed has no business connection with the Abed Family.
Concern Citizen,
Anyone can do a search on Beachside Properties Inc., at the CAIPO offices.
# 15492 registered 1998-06-05
This would dispell any doubts about exactly who are directors.
Adrian Loveridge wrote,
“The people from Planning seems genuinly suprised by the fact that our 160 plus registered hotels barely reached an average annual occupancy of 50% up until the end of 2006.”
The BLP claims to have managed the Barbados economy very well up until Jan 2008.They spent kazillions on the BTA and marketing.
50% occupancy in a booming world economy is a failure. Prehaps that 50% figure is wrong.
We are still in a recession.Air fares dirt cheap and people still not travelling to Barbados.This fare is offered by Marville Travel in Toronto.
“Sale to Barbados on Air Canada
from $293.00 plus taxes of $76.35
(Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday travel)
Additional $35.00 each way for travel Friday to Monday.
$369 is dirt cheap.
Adrian Loveridge,”And just to add, that average annual occupancy level of 50% means in reality that we have 3,500 hotel rooms EMPTY every night of the year.”
The Hotel owners must take some responsibility for this.
Hotels are privately owned businesses in a Capitalist economy.
@ Hants
There may be air line deals but tourists also expect hotel and guest house deals with friendly and proper service !
Mr. Peachment –
Your “certainties” are not. Not in regard to dunes, projected activities, appropriate overall density/land use, and others. And it ignores the original conservation promise for this area made decades ago. Engineering a solution necessarily requires an understanding of history. The UWI contingent understands this, good planners understand, and citizen and environmental lobbies understand. I hope their voices will prevail.
The project has been flawed from its inception. Good planning means appropriate open space, and none of your “certainties” address this or the conservation/recreation elements needed for healthy communities. Gillespie and Steel has been associated with this project for a long time, and they should know better. Plotting building sites and architecture is one thing, but doing it in context with solid, proven urban development land use planning is another thing entirely, and developer clients are not going to volunteer these things to a community because they (and their consultants) can’t afford to.
Land allocation ratios for residential, commercial, parks and conservation and industry are essential in a developing nation.
These allocations won’t happen naturally in the competitive business arena. It can only come from government leadership standing up for the people and saying, “We’re running out of good land. We want to make sure that people have a place to live, recreate and have some sense of dignity about the place that they live. Let’s make sure that we permanently set aside certain lands forever – and no applications for high density development will be accepted for these areas.”
Other nations and cities have done this, and it works.
What is sad about this project is that CTP is laboring under constant assaults on the most pristine lands in Barbados under the current political rules governing the PDP. The PDP classifications unto themselves do not pre-empt applications for development on sensitive lands, instead, Town and Country Planning has rules that allow the poor prospective developer to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for studies and EIA’s that for the most part offer a pathetic rationale for development. In the past that’s all that developers had to do to get what they want. Consultants were happy too.
Anyone knows if. Dr. The Hon. Dennis S. Lowe, Minister of the Environment and Member of The House of Assembly for the said area attended the meeting?
If he attended, did he make any contribution? Do his constituents know his position on the development? Has he made any public statement?
As Minister he would have the professional advice of his staff. As constituency representative he would know the concerns of his constituents.
Other caribbean islands need development.
Why not leave Chancery Lane as a wetland ecosystem and invest the money in St.Lucia,St.Kitts or Grenada?
There are other Caribbean islands that need Hotels.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelvideo/7199524/The-man-who-wont-sell-paradise…-even-for-60m.html?utm_source=tmg&utm_medium=TD_paradise&utm_campaign=video1803pm
In St.Lucia.
Claudius Lousien lives in a corrugated lean-to, without electricity or water, but has turned down an offer of $60m for his land.
And now for something different.
“Rihanna has made the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Rude Boy’, clocking up her sixth number one single.
The track climbs for the fifth week in a row from last week’s fourth position, giving her more Billboard number ones than any other artist since 2000.”
On a serious note.
Bajans need to be educated on the true purpose and value of Swamps.Most Bajans don’t know that numerous fish and birds need swamps as breeding grounds.
The perception to the average Bajan is that a swamp is a big pond with “stinkin wahtah” an “is whey dem white people does shoot birds”.
They have seen Hotels built on swamps.Discovery Bay hotel was built on a swamp.
The educated environmentalists in Barbados must start to agressively lobby Government to stop the destruction of Swamps.
Bajans need to be informed.
Hi Adrian,
A corporate search often gets the directors but not the real people who pull the strings or the real financiers. Many Bajan companies have been or are controlled or actually owned by elected or appointed government officials who put figurehead directors on the board to avoid being seen taking advantage of their government office.
I’ll leave the comments about development to better informed people than me, but I was concerned about ” breakwaters” in the water. Long Beach is a very dynamic beach and I’m sure thousands of tons of sand move around every tidal cycle. Put something in the way and you never sure what you get. Studying these things in advance needs very specialised models, etc, there aren’t very many places that can do this, and its very expensive. I understood some beaches on the west coast disappeared in a few weeks after someone erected groynes
@Peter Loveridge”but I was concerned about ” breakwaters” in the water”
Your concerns are justified. Breakwaters will create dramatic changes to adjacent beaches.
Those changes can be “creative” or “destructive”.
The “experts” should have answers.
BFP,
What do you think about this article in today’s Nation titled,
Culinary legacy of colonialism
Talking about breakwaters, groynes…….. Long shore drift has to be taken into perspective,,,it changes in the area of chancery lane ,silversands,south point,oistins and further to the westerly other beaches,,,,i am sure most surfers have had the current carrying normally to the west at south point and surfers point (chancery lane) and then one day totally reversing its direction for a number of days ,weeks etc….. to the east.. . placing breakwaters ,groines is not a measure taken lightly…remember the coast guard station at oistins….after endless study and monies paid to I believe “Experts” from Israel or whereever….The Govt at that time went ahead to create unintentiouly the beautiful MIAMI beach…….. so with Mullins Bay etc in our recent memory I think that studies undertaken with any development intended has a resonsibility to feed back on LOCAL REPRESENTATION……..HYPOTHETICALLY looking ahead …. 5 years down the line ….Stench stinking out Chancery Lane LOCALS….Beach undermined …………Sand dunes eroding……BANG!!!! Who really cares…….. On and ON and ON it can go…………..