Residents want to see plans for Bequia

Dozens of Bequia residents, as young as eight and as old as 68, got out their walking shoes for a nature hike on October 8 to Man Point, at the most northerly tip of the island, also known as Bequia Head.

The Committee of the People’s Action Alliance had invited the public to join them for some healthy exercise and a chance to inspect, first hand, the natural beauty of park. Fine weather allowed striking views of Battowia and Balliceaux and ultimately St Vincent, as well as close-up inspection of soldier crabs, wild mushrooms, tree orchids, and bromeliads. Bay trees, known locally as cinnamon, line the trail -a quick fold of the leaf releases a delicious herbal scent.{{more}}

There was evidence that land surveyors had been at work within the last week judging from red-ribboned metal markers in the ground, and cut traces in the bush. The Committee is trying to find out from the National Properties, and the Department of Surveys, the current status of these lands in keeping with the Government’s promise of transparency, but according to the PAAB there has been little success thus far.

The committee recommends that most of this land be kept as a nature reserve and recreational area, and finds it incomprehensible that as much as 600 acres should be sold to one individual thus cutting off forever the freedom of Vincentians to enjoy its natural beauty. There are already web-sites online advertising areas for sale in Bequia as ‘gated’ communities, a concept which the committee finds worrying.

The People’s Action Alliance is most anxious to see the Plan of Bequia that was promised by the Prime Minister at their meeting with him on July 31. The PAAB believes it is absolutely essential to have a plan for the whole island before making any major

land decisions which will affect Bequia and the country forever.