The decision by the court that prohibited an overseas developer from restricting access to a public road should be a reminder to external investors that they must respect the historical rights of communities in Barbados.
The chiding is coming from attorney Shelly Seecharan who, as part of the legal team of Sir Richard Cheltenham, successfully represented Westbeach Development when it challenged neighbour Kings Beach Village’s assertion that a road belonged to them before erecting barriers in the space preventing West Beach from accessing the construction site for its luxury residences.
The road in contention at Road View, St Peter, separates the two properties.
Kings Beach claimed that it owned the land which was not opened to public use, however, the court, after hearing from lifelong residents who were not cross-examined by the defendant, ruled to the contrary.
“There is no evidence before this court that the landowner, whoever he was, did not intend to dedicate the road to the public. On the contrary, the preponderance of evidence demonstrates that there has been long, continuous use of the road without objection from the landowner from which the court infers a common law dedication,” the judge stated.
Seecharan believed the court’s view should be a lesson to those overseas.
“I think it is a reminder to all developers that Barbados is open and remains open to everybody to come here and do business. But that in doing that, they must respect the historical and traditional rights of communities in this country,” she said from the location yesterday.
The attorney said the incidents happened “more often than we know or would probably like to admit” but it took “people of courage to stand up and say it is wrong”.
Sir Richard could not say to what extent road access is a problem elsewhere but there were a few instances and the decision was an important precedent.
Important decision
“Whether the facts of the situation are comparable to the ones here, such that the precedent could be applicable, I don’t know, but it’s a useful and important decision and it has not been appealed,” he said, adding that deadline had passed.
Developer of the West Beach project, Bjorn Bjerkhamn, said as a developer in Barbados for 60 years he refused to allow others from overseas to “do as they like” without challenging it.
“We’ve hit up on a lot of problems over the years. We had similar problems and we’ve overcome them all,” he stated.
Bjerkhamn recounted how the land became available from the Gilkes family who were prepared to sell and he thought a development in the area would redound to the benefit of Barbados and the whole district.
When Kings Beach informed him that the road belonged to them, Bjerkhamn, a resident from the area, said he knew better and went to battle.
He said that the legal battle had not affected the project and particularly so since the court sided with them. ( AC)
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