People and communties must be at the heart of town planning, and it should be guided by the needs of Barbadians and a commitment to serving them.
This was stressed by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office with responsibility for Economic Affairs and Planning Marsha Caddle, during a church service at People’s Cathedral, Bishop’s Court Hill, St Michael, yesterday to mark World Town Planning Day.
Emphasising the work of the Planning and Development Department, she said it was central to shaping the everyday lives of Barbadians, as its decisions affected everything from the communities people lived in to the facilities and amenities they depended on.
“At its heart, planning is about people. It is about the street that a child walks to school on, the yard where my mother grew her kitchen garden, and the bus stop that we wait at to get to work. It’s also importantly more and more about the piece of land that a family has saved up for, has sacrificed for and has prayed about getting, and being able to pass on to their children.”
Caddle said the department’s work was critical to shaping how Barbados grew and developed, from ensuring tourism investment benefits Barbadians, to making land available for housing and creating communities where people can live, work and access essential services.
Referring to yesterday’s SUNDAY SUN front page story headlined Boulders Block Access – which highlighted concerns of beach access along the West Coast – the minister declared that all beaches in Barbados must remain accessible to the public, even if traditional routes change because of coastal protection work.
“All beaches in Barbados are accessible to all. That is an important thing that we are holding on to. It does not mean that the way to the beach that you had ten years ago will remain the exact way to the beach that you have today, but there will be access, there must be. Sometimes when we have to do the work of coastal protection to protect the coastline, it means that the old access that you knew growing up 60 years ago may not be the one that you have today,” Caddle said.
She noted that planning must support the development of the ocean economy, including fish and marine related activities, and stressed the importance of ensuring that landing sites, fish markets, jetties and boatyards were safe, modern and ready for storms that approach the island, as she briefly reflected on the impact of Hurricane Beryl in 2024.
Turning to land ownership, she described land as an important source of wealth, security and dignity for Barbadian families, as for many years it was an asset they hoped they passed on to their children.
She said the department was working to balance the protection of agricultural land with the need to facilitate subdivisions, allowing families to transfer land.
“Right now we’ve been doing a lot of work and a lot of heavy lifting on reform to the legislation because as we have to manage agricultural land, feeding our population, we have to manage subdivisions for people who just want to be able to take the land that they’ve worked so hard for and to be able to hand it over to their families,” In his sermon titled No Plumb Line; Crooked Walls, pastor Trevor Harewood told the congregation there were times when they would have to stop and take stock of where they were on their spiritual walk individually and as a nation.
He told them if God examined them and did not find them in alignment, they must be prepared to submit to His guidance and direction to bring them back to where they needed to be. (AJ)