Save Warwick Long Bay

Warwick Long Bay is a National Park and one of the most beautiful and most pristine of Bermudas beaches. Its image has been used extensively to attract tourists to Bermuda.

A private entrepreneur has applied to construct a bar and restaurant encroaching on the beach. The application was for a temporary structure but there are plans to have it stay in place year-round. The Bermuda Environmental and Sustainability Taskforce (BEST) was joined by more than 100 concerned citizens in submitting formal objections to the Development Applications Board. The DAB subsequently refused the application.

The developer then appealed. The appeal was submitted to an Independent Inspector for an unbiased assessment. He recommended against the appeal. The new and inexperienced Environment Minister then went against that recommendation, overturned the DAB decision and has given the developer permission to proceed.

There are already beaches, some quite nearby, where tourists and residents can combine food and beverages, including alcohol, with their beach experience. We are concerned that this construction will set a precedent for similar "development" in any or all of our National Parks.

We do not want to see this pristine National Park put on the path to becoming a commercialised tourism zone.

PETITION: We are opposed to any commerce-related construction, temporary or otherwise, on Warwick Long Bay parklands.