Government Study: Part Move To St Georges

About an hour ago in the House of Assembly, Premier Dr Ewart Brown announced that the Government would begin a study about the feasibility of moving some Government operations to St George’s and Southside.

Such a move would reverse the general flow from the Old Towne that has been occurring since the 1800s, when Hamilton became the Capital of Bermuda. Since the late 1980s, St George’s has experienced some economic distress as its commercial and tourist activity dwindled.

The idea of re-locating some Government Offices to St George’s has been suggested before, however the step of conducting a study seems to indicate greater thought into the possibility.

As pointed out by the Premier, re-locating some Government operations to St George’s would help lower the amount of traffic that flows into Hamilton every day, would help alleviate parking problems, and would help direct some much needed finances into Bermuda’s original Capital City.

The Ministerial Statement indicated that Works & Engineering would undertake the study and would report back in 30 days.

St Georges has played a large part of Bermuda’s history, and is generally claimed to be the oldest continuously inhabited English town in the New World. In 2000 the town was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

Premier Dr Brown’s full statement from the House of Assembly this morning follows below:

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to advise this Honourable House that in conjunction with the Honourable Member, the Minister of Works and Engineering, this Government will conduct a study into the feasibility of transferring certain operations of Government to St. George’s and Southside.

Mr. Speaker, a number of factors make this study necessary:

• Traffic congestion within the City of Hamilton has become a serious issue which threatens to diminish the efficiency of operating within its limits

• The increase in vehicles generally and the flow of traffic to and from the City has become a quality of life issue for the travelling public

• The waning fortunes of the Town of St. George’s speak volumes about the requirement for even small economies to diversify

• Sustainable development principles encourage us in forward planning to diminish the concentration of working populations.

Mr. Speaker, a working group led by the Estates Section of the Ministry of Works and Engineering and including the Cabinet Office, the Sustainable Development Unit, the BPSU and the BIU will set about the task of determining suitable locations and what functions of the public service might best be transferred.

Mr. Speaker, an interim view should be provided within the next 30 days and I look forward to sharing further details with this Honourable House and the public.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

#StGeorges

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