National Trust Response To The Throne Speech
The Bermuda National Trust welcomed the fact that Bermuda’s environment and heritage received attention in the Government’s Throne Speech on Monday, and said they ”noted with interest plans to facilitate the growth of the beach economy”.
“We hope that environmental advocates will be involved in consultations to ensure that maintaining Bermuda’s reputation for having pristine beaches is balanced against the need for growth in tourism,” said Trust President Lt Col William White.
90-minute replay of the CITV broadcast of the Throne Speech
Lt Col White also welcomed the development of a National Heritage Policy.
“As the primary advocate for Bermuda’s built heritage and as the custodian of perhaps Bermuda’s largest collection of artifacts, we look forward to consultations on this vital initiative and support all efforts which help to build a greater understanding of our collective heritage,” he said.
On the environment, the National Trust supported a Green Paper to reduce the use of plastics on the Island and further initiatives to reduce invasive species like Lionfish, and also backed efforts to reduce illegal fishing around Bermuda.
The Trust added that they “welcomed plans to remove the eyesore of the former Devon Springs Recycling Plant and to replace it with a playground and hopes that this will be expedited.”
The full 2016 Throne Speech is below [PDF here]:
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Another offshoot of U.B.P.
Did they say where the recyclable waste will go ?
The Devon Springs recycling center is defunct. The Material Recovery Facility at Government Quarry has been the active recycling plant for several years now.
Recycling materials have been stored there only when the MRF was down for maintenance – but I believe there’s space at Quarry for storage going forward now.
The article quotes the Trust above, “We hope that environmental advocates will be involved in consultations to ensure that maintaining Bermuda’s reputation for having pristine beaches is balanced against the need for growth in tourism,” said Trust President Lt Col William White.
BEST state on their own website that they’ve been part of the consultation. BEST are also quoted in the BTA Beach Economy presentation as saying,
“…BEST was comfortable with the BTA’s overall vision toimprove existing services and amenities on five public beaches, recognising that some of Bermuda’s beaches should remain pristine, and none should be developed near their carrying capacity. BEST was also supportive of the BTA’s commitment to not build on beaches not yet developed.”
Here are the sources I’ve quoted:
http://bernews.com/2016/05/dd-beach-economy-presentation/
https://best.org.bm/publications/press/beach-economy-vision-improving-bermudas-beach-experience/