13th February, 2018
The Bermuda Environmental Sustainability Taskforce (BEST) is very concerned about
the handling of the proposal to run All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) tours in the west end
(along the western railway trail and in Scaur Hill and Hog Bay parks) and feel that the
following points are reason enough for any prior approval to be withdrawn or
overturned.
1. An October 2, 2017 news article was the first time that the general public had
been told of the scheme, and the apparent approval by the former Minister for
the Environment, Sylvan Richards.
2. This apparent approval was given, despite:
a. the requirement under Section 4(a) of the Bermuda National Parks Act
1986 requiring public notification be given of any proposal for such a
change of use of the protected areas to be involved. While there was a
subsequent invitation by the Ministry for Public Works for members of
the public to submit comments, that exercise would not qualify as
satisfying that requirement. A consolidated report of the hundreds of
objections submitted during that process has only been alluded to with
details still not having been made public;
b. the restrictions on motorized vehicles on the railway path in accordance
with Sections 3(1)(a) and (b) of the Road Traffic (Western Section of the
Railway Path) Order 1955 (which (a) restricts all motorized vehicles
specifically along the portion of the Railway Trail in “the Western section
of the railway path lying between Franks Bay in Southampton Parish and
the former railway terminal at Somerset in Sandys Parish” and (b)
restricts motorized vehicles to auxiliary bicycles beginning at George’s
Bay Road in Southampton Parish and ending at the former railway
terminal at Somerset in Sandys Parish, and
c. the expressed lack of support for the scheme by the Bermuda National
Trust, BEST, Greenrock, the Garden Club, the Farmers’ Association, the
Bermuda Audubon Society, the Heydon Trust and, we have been led to
to believe, the Parks Commission, Parks staff and the Bermuda Tourism
Authority.
3. A PATI request, submitted on November 7, 2017 to obtain the facts behind how
the proposal was originally presented, discussed, considered and approved by
the former Minister, has still not been provided to the requester, despite the
extended deadline for the response having passed on Jan 30, 2018.
It is concerning that the information we have requested via a PATI request has
essentially been withheld. We took advice and lodged a request for an internal
review of the matter, but the results of that process can take up to a further 6 weeks,
long after the Minister’s February 15th decision.
This continues the theme throughout this issue, that the public has been deprived of
the necessary facts to make informed arguments for or against this proposition. The
Minister’s insistence that objections from members of the public who do not live in the
area (many of whom use the trails and parks on a regular basis) would be dismissed
when making the final decision, should be viewed as objectionable. Bermuda’s
railway trails and parks are for the peaceful enjoyment of all of us and we encourage
your stance in support of our right to a voice in the protection of those amenities.
Kim Smith
Executive Director
