The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

I WOULD like to give a shout out to my nephew, Mr Adrian White, the MP for St Anne’s, for seizing on such a delicate topic as the destruction of Athol Island under seemingly dubious circumstances and authority.

The Department of Environmental Planning and Protection (DEPP) over- saw, at a public meeting in April of 2022, the public’s clear rejection of a venture by a business by the name of “Sand Dollar Tours” and a gentleman named Darville, who had been working on the project for over two years. This project did not entail any destruction of the topology of Athol Island and was rejected largely because this island has been designated as being in a Marine Protected Area. Mr Philip Davis and Mr Clay Sweeting were copied in on correspondence at the time and would be very much aware of this then.

The sip-sip is that the son of a very high-ranking Member of the Governing Party has been granted a Crown Lease or Grant of over four acres on the north side of the island and has seemingly been given permission to decapitate the small but very environmentally important hillock, in the islands center. Athol Island is, like Paradise Island, Rose Island and Blue Lagoon Island, barriers to the massive waves that roll in from the Atlantic Ocean to our north. Without these islands the Bahamas Capital City would still be in Harbour Island.

So, one question is how was it that DEPP was consulted in April of 2022, but seemingly ignored in

April of 2024. And another follow-on question, how was the public consulted in April of 2022 but ignored in April of 2024. Do the politicians have that much sway over the laws and regulations of the country.

What the Voting Public must realise about Crown Land is that it is owned by the people of the Bahamas. Every damned one of us. The minute that a politician grants a lease, or sells a piece of Crown Land, it is no longer owned by us and we can lawfully be shut out above the high water mark.

Numerous families would go by small boats and camp out on holiday weekends, along the north coast of Athol Island and even Spruce Cay (now Pearl Island). Today you will be run off of both islands and every other island around New Providence.

BRUCE G RAINE

Nassau, July 9 2024.