Government report.

Fourteen years later, the Visitor Industry Partnership has announced that it hopes to create a tourism partnership project to revamp Flatts Village.

However, VIP chairman W.A. (Toppy) Cowen was unable to say if ideas from the shelved Planning Department report -- entitled the "Flatts Village Special Study'' -- would be utilised.

A meeting is planned for November 4 at the Aquarium where stake holders will be able to start putting together ideas. "To tell you right now, we are not sure what is going to come out of these meetings,'' said Mr. Cowen.

The report contains plans to boost Flatts Village as a tourist site and deal with the serious traffic problem in the area. These are the same objectives of the planned VIP partnership.

"The Flatts Village Special Study, 1983'', sets out schemes to enhance the quaint village in six broad areas which included improving tourist attractions and the flow of traffic and pedestrians through the village.

The report came from the 1974 Development Plan which highlighted the village as an area of outstanding scenic beauty which needed to be preserved.

Participants in the study included residents, merchants, hotels, the Tourism Department, the Public Works Ministry and the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.

At the time of the survey there were two hotels, the Coral Island Hotel and the Palmetto Bay Hotel, in Flatts Village. Since then the Coral Island Hotel has been replaced by condominiums.

The report noted that the Aquarium was the Island's single most popular attraction and that traffic problems made pedestrian travel in the area dangerous.

It proposed a mapped out walk in the village taking in historic sites and points of interest with sidewalks to reduce traffic hazards for pedestrians.

The report also suggested a boardwalk along the shore with open shops and cafes.

The report also suggest a bridge across Flatts Inlet to redirect traffic and prevent bottlenecks in the village, a suggestion that met mixed reviews from area residents.

Mr. Cowen said he wanted the Island's number one tourist attraction, the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo, and Harrington Sound to be better utilised and he wanted to make the area safe for pedestrians.

To do this he planned to create "partnerships with a fresh approach to some rather stale problems.''