Several factors to consider with lights says Springer

Chief Executive Officer of the Barbados Hotel & Tourism Association (BHTA), Sue Springer says a number factors need to be taken into consideration before lights could be placed on the Richard Haynes Boardwalk. 

Number one among them, she said was the negative impact lighting would have on the turtle hatchlings.

 

She shared this with the media while speaking on the side-lines of a donation by the BHTA and the Tourism Development Corporation (TDC) to the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF). Monday’s joint presentation of four segways and replacement batteries for previous segways to the Force was done at the RBPF’s headquarters.

 

“If you have the wrong lighting on the Boardwalk you got a problem. You also got a problem regarding if you decide to light all of the Boardwalk, are you now encouraging people to use that Boardwalk and have we got the methodology of actually policing it or patrolling etc.? Should we then say or put a notice up that the Boardwalk is lit until 10 o’clock? Should we use lights that are motion sensitive so that when you are walking along they go on and when you pass they go off? Do we use bright lights and therefore impinge on the environment or all the restaurant around there?” she queried.

 

There have been recent reports of individuals being attacked while traversing the South Coast Boardwalk and calls have been made for greater lighting to be provided along the stretch to reduce the risk of such crimes. 

Springer pointed out that the BHTA has been “working together with a number of people, the police, lighting companies that have come forward, the turtle people and so on, to see how best we can move forward to get that [the lighting] done”.