The Tribune

By FAY SIMMONS

TRIBUNE Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

AN ADVOCACY group for Cabbage Beach vendors is challenging why they were forced to relocate given that there is no confirmed construction start for the $550m Four Seasons Ocean Club Residences, accusing the Government of disrupting Bahamian businesses without providing clear terms for their return.

Selina Archer, founder of Dis We Beach, said the group is concerned that vendors have been moved without adequate consultation or written assurances about their temporary locations, assistance and eventual return to Cabbage Beach.

“Asking vendors to play nice after government agencies disrupted Bahamian businesses is a slap in the face,” Ms Archer said. “What notice were vendors given? How were they consulted on where they would go? Where are the written answers on when they can return? If this is how government treats Bahamian business owners, we’re in trouble.”

The relocation has contributed to mounting tensions at Goodman’s Bay, where disputes have emerged between displaced Cabbage Beach vendors and established operators over vending space and competition for customers. 

Existing businesses have raised concerns about the impact of the relocation on their own livelihoods, with reports of confrontations over space at the popular beach destination.

Dis We Beach said the disputes have raised further questions for the Ministry of Tourism and the Public Parks and Public Beaches Authority, particularly given that there is still no confirmed timetable for the Four Seasons Ocean Club Residences development to proceed.

The group is questioning why vendors were required to move when they did, what consultation took place over their assigned locations and what government is doing for those who say they are unable to earn a living at their temporary sites. It is calling for written relocation terms, confirmed temporary locations, details of assistance and clear conditions governing vendors’ return.

The concerns form part of a broader petition signed by more than 970 people, which calls on the Government to provide answers on public access to Cabbage Beach before another construction fence is erected. The petition was submitted to government agencies on October 6, but Ms Archer said the group was still waiting for direct responses more than a month later.

The demand for answers follows comments by Dr Rhianna Neely-Murphy, director of the Department of Environmental Planning and Protection (DEPP), that the developer of the Four Seasons Ocean Club Residences had secured the necessary government approvals, although administrative matters remained outstanding and there was no confirmed timetable for the project.

Ms Archer said the group was alarmed by the suggestion that the development had received the necessary approvals, given the safety concerns surrounding previous fencing along the beach.

“This statement that the developer received the necessary government approvals is particularly alarming. Anyone who knows Cabbage Beach knows how far the surf can reach and how powerful it can be,” she said. 

“How did a fence go up in that location in the name of safety? What did the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources and DEPP each check before it went up? A woman nearly drowned. We seem to be glossing over that, and it’s disturbing.”

In September, a visitor was swept into the sea while attempting to get around a fence, prompting Bahamian vendors and others to risk their own lives to rescue her.

Dis We Beach is demanding that the Government identify which Cabbage Beach public entrances will remain open during construction, who will control them and what legal protections will guarantee public passage. 

The petition also asks how much safe, dry passage will remain between any construction barrier and the sea, whether beachgoers will be able to pass during high tide and rough surf, and how the route will accommodate children, older people and persons with disabilities.