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Barbuda Ocean Club (aka Peace Love and Happiness or PLH) is intending to be 700 luxury holiday homes in what amounts to a gated community – judging by the miles of fencing they have put up to exclude us – all along the south coast of Barbuda. Already extensively building on Coco Point’s old lease, according to their brochure there will be a ‘vibrant surf-side village’ where Coco Point once stood with homes starting at $3m. At the other end, on Palmetto hotel’s old lease, they are destroying natural wetland trying to build a golf course (this never worked for K Club) and have further objectionable plans to put a marina on the lagoon: our important (and protected) Ramsar site.They are also planning a sports park, an organic farm and (to offset destroying their natural habitat) heavily promote their Sea Turtle Project and Reef Renewal.

The enormous concrete dwellings are completely unsuited to the beach-side environment, only a few metres from the sea, with very little information available about who the sub-lessee/owners might turn out to be and which will bring no long-term benefits to Barbudans. Although some of us are employed by the company, there is very liitle opportunity for staff development or training and promotion here and so most Barbudans have left and been replaced by migrant workers from Antigua and further afield. The deal to give away this vast amount of land to one organisation was agreed with the Government of Antigua who stand to benefit most from this, facilitated by a handful of compliant Barbudans who were Councillors at the time, who now can’t remember signing any new leases.

The new ‘international airport’ has been opened recently to allow Barbuda Ocean Club (and Nobu) guests to arrive on Barbuda in their private jets without stopping in Antigua, and exit the airport through a newly constructed and separate VIP lounge, but has made no difference to our development at all – we still come on the unreliable 7 seater twice a day.

In the short term some Barbudan home-owners are now able to make an income renting surplus village accommodation to PLH contractors, and this was much needed for Barbudans after devastating Hurricane Irma. And more recently, after legal action and current Council pressure, PLH has conceded that the law states it must pay tax here and not to the Antigua government. They also agreed to work with the current Council in the community on a number of token projects in the village, although rumours here and in Antigua suggest the billonaires may be ‘running out of money…’

These and other issues have resulted in BOC being an unpopular choice for Barbudans. We are not accustomed to being excluded from areas of our land such as Palmetto, or living with people who need to be fenced in and have no interest in engaging with the local community.