Untapped potential

IT is being suggested that business activity could rebound and development increase in Speightstown if greater use is made of the Special Development Areas Act.

That’s the view of this country’s Chief Town Planner, Mark Cummins, who says the opportunities set out in the Act have not been taken advantage of in Speightstown as had been anticipated. He explained that the Special Development Areas Act makes provision for various concessions to be approved for developers wishing to carry out activities such as hotels including conference areas, residential complexes, commercial buildings as well as tourism projects highlighting heritage and the natural environment in the earmarked areas of Carlisle Bay, St. Lawrence Gap, the Scotland District and Speightstown.

However, he said while there is a need to improve amenities in the Speightstown area, any applications for new development must be “sensitive” to what currently exists and the “architectural language” must continue to represent elements of the town’s historical character. Cummins said this has been the case to date, but referring to the boardwalk built a few years back, he lamented that it remains under-utilised. Nonetheless, he said the pending Physical Development Plan for the country is expected to outline a number of other projects that could be carried out to revitalise the northern town.

“We are looking to remediate the mangrove swamp, this is the area to the west of Almond; we want to promote that as a storm water retention area, because as you know Speightstown has flooding challenges. We are looking at maintaining the playing field between that swamp area and where the buses are garaged. We are looking to preserve all the existing access points to the beach; and we want to connect Fort Denmark to the esplanade and that would be by way of a boardwalk,” he said.

Cummins added, “The jetty right now is in a state of disrepair, so we are recommending that it should be done; and something that we are looking to recommend also for locals and tourists, is to have a link from Speightstown to The Whim through a pedestrian route going along the Salt Pond, around the town and The Whim, to get people moving, and so certainly the walking conditions in Speightstown need to be addressed, because accessibility is imperative.”

Not to be left out, he said is the cultural heritage aspect of the town, which at the time of the island’s settlement by the British was the busiest port. He said it is being recommended that the cultural heritage assets, inclusive of the buildings and the landscape, also be preserved and marketed as attractions. In fact, Cummins admitted in the interview that it is not farfetched that the area could be an ideal candidate for Barbados to attain another UNESCO World Heritage Site designation.

“Culturally, Speightstown is very rich. The museum at Arlington is one of the better pieces of restoration that has been done in Barbados along with the Masonic lodge by the Central Bank, but very few people know about it.”

With that in mind, he said that perhaps one of Speightstown’s challenges is marketing, but he made it clear that is not a problem his office can solve.

“We can put the policies in place to create the enabling environment, but something has to be done, even if it is the Chamber of Commerce working in collaboration with the Speightstown businesspeople, to ensure that Speightstown realises the potential that it has,” he insisted.