Covering approximately 180 acres, the City of Hamilton is indeed the centre of Bermuda.

Home to the majority of the Island's retail, restaurant and entertainment venues, the City also provides the business address for 40 percent of the total workforce and is host to two of Bermuda's largest private schools -- a big change from when it was established 100 years ago.

"Hamilton is important for the country as a whole,'' said Peter Adwick, Government's assistant director of planning. "It's the Island's main shopping area, our main cruise ship stop and our principal tourist attraction. And what we need is to find a way that all these different users can interact in a city that is pleasant to walk around, interesting and fun, with pleasant amenities generally.

"Hamilton has changed over the last 15 or 20 years,'' he added. "And this year, we decided with the Corporation, that it was appropriate to review the existing plan for the City. It's quite old. It dates back to 1984 and is based on information from the late 1970's, and a lot has changed in the meantime.'' The idea, Mr. Adwick explained, is to create a plan which will address those issues which concern the public. As such, various interest groups and sectors of the community have been asked to share their input.

"We will hopefully try and cover all the issues and provide pointers from which we can put together a new, forward plan for Hamilton. Until now, our whole emphasis has been in meeting a variety of interest groups -- businesses, members of the Chamber of Commerce, representatives from the North Hamilton Development Corporation and various Government departments, to get a feel of what the issues are.

"We (recently) held a meeting, attended by 60 people. Our intention is to put our findings from that meeting in a single document and publish them over the next few weeks, making them available to the public to make sure that we are on the right track.'' Issues which have arisen so far include: Better development of North Hamilton and making it more secure Improving the waterfront area Improving the traffic flow through the City The possibility of pedestrianising certain areas The need to preserve the aesthetics and the town's historic buildings Whether to expand the City's boundaries Whether the existing 1984 Plan is seen as too restrictive "Hamilton has changed. The residential population, for example, has decreased over the last four or five decades. It's now one-third of what it was in the 1950's and the number of residential homes has also declined. People have ceased to see Hamilton as a desireable place to live in, and safety and security is one of our most-mentioned issues. There seems to be an increasing frequency in the number of people stopped by vagrants; begging has become more obvious on all the streets as has crime in general. So there are many benefits to having an increased population in Hamilton, an obvious one being that it adds more life to the streets and will provide a natural surveillance for any crime that's about.

"Pedestrianisation is something that many people are in favour of. There's always trade-offs, but we have to decide what kind of city we want. Do we want something that's pleasant to walk around? Or something that's full of cars and delivery vehicles and all the problems that go with that?'' Cities do change, he said, and it is as a result of Hamilton's development that changes are to be put in place.

"North Hamilton is an area that is particularly important. It has been perhaps, neglected as part of the City, but it has a lot of potential with all the facilities that exist there -- the shops, the clubs, the bars, the cultural interest and the range of historic buildings. Much more could be done with that and, with the right encouragement, it could provide a new focus for Hamilton. Over the next few years, there will be a new park off Hamilton which will have a major impact on the City and its north eastern part in particular.'' Another factor which has greatly changed the City in recent years, is the growth of international business.

"Also, there is a change in the emphasis on the business culture in Hamilton.

When the last plan was done, it showed there to be just over 1 million square feet being used by offices. We did a survey in 1996, and it shows more than $2 million square feet of office space within the City limits, with probably another 400,000 or 500,000 square feet on the outskirts of Hamilton and an additional million square feet waiting for planning approval. All that has served to change Hamilton a lot since the 1980's when there used to be more of an even distribution of residences. But now it's predominantly offices.'' With that shift, said Mr. Adwick, came a host of problems typically associated with city life.

"Hamilton is the business centre of Bermuda, and as a consequence, 40 percent of the working population is in Hamilton and with that comes the usual range of problems -- the most obvious being traffic. It's exacerbated by the fact that a lot of the Island's largest employers are on the western side of the City -- the banks are there and two of our major private schools are there as well, also, there are two major development sites in that area of Hamilton, the Bermudiana Hotel and P.W.'s. So it means that there must be some way found to manage the traffic problem.'' The growth in international business within the City limits has changed more than just the level of traffic, he added, the face of Hamilton has also been affected.

"We also have to realise the impact that modern buildings are having on the character of Hamilton. Clearly that is one of the things that needs to be addressed. We have to know how to strike a balance so that we can permit and encourage business and economic development, whilst retaining the character of Hamilton. And while there are no buildings within Hamilton that are designated as `historic', other than the Cathedral, there are clearly areas of the City which help retain its old characteristics. And when they go, people feel a loss.

"Cities do change. Hamilton is very business oriented. Certainly some scope needs to be give to allow these areas to be developed, but there is still room for protection and a need to encourage good, quality development.'' Traffic congestion a problem to be dealt with under new plan 1984 Plan for the City of Hamilton GOVERNMENT GVT 100 YEARS ANNIVERSARY ANN