WESTMORELAND:
TALKS BETWEEN the West-moreland Parish Council and the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) over the future operation of the Bluefields Beach in Westmoreland have broken down.
After six months of negotiations, ordered by Prime Minister P.J. Patterson in May, this year, the parties have failed to arrive at an understanding, resulting in a decision by the Corporation to lease the beach to some other entity and a threat by the Council to take the matter to court.
At last Thursday's meeting of the Council, secretary/manager Patricia Sinclair-Stair, read a letter addressed to the Council from UDC chairman, Dr. Vin Law-rence. The letter stated that it was the intention of the UDC to negotiate with someone else since the Parish Council did not appear capable of successfully running the beach.
Outlining the events that led to the current impasse, Mrs. Sinclair-Stair said proposals were put on the table by the Council, but the UDC rejected it, and the Council did not agree with the counter-proposals put forward by UDC.
However, Mayor Ralph Anglin said the Council was prepared to sit with Dr. Lawrence to discuss the matter. "We will be mobilising the people to prevent them leasing the beach to a private entity," he said. "We are ready to go to court to defend our right on this matter. We will not fail or falter."
The dispute over the beach developed in March, this year, when the UDC, which owns the property on which the beach park is situated, decided that the park itself was not a viable concern so it was turning it over with the beach to a private interest.
"You can do whatever you want with the beach park, but the beach itself must remain free for the public which has been enjoying the facility for many years," said the Parish Council, in a letter to the UDC.
The stage was set for a bitter confrontation over the matter when, at the request of the Council, Prime Minister Patter-son, who has portfolio responsibility for the UDC and in whose constituency the beach falls, ordered both parties to the negotiating table "with a view to working out an arrangement for a joint management of the beach."
At the Council meeting, Deputy Mayor Winston Comrie said the fact that the beach park has been a failed venture should not mean that poor people should be penalised for it. The Bluefields Beach, he said, was one of the most popular attractions of its kind and was certainly a part of the people's heritage. Councillor Ivan Pinnock, in whose division the beach is located, pledged that it would only be privatised "after they have taken off my head".
