Residents and environmental campaigners are ready to stage "on-site protests" against plans for a beach bar on the South Shore.

They say they will also mobilise public opinion against the 'Sandbar' through petitions and Town Hall meetings, as well as fighting any application for a liquor licence.

Opposition to the bar and restaurant, earmarked for Warwick Long Bay, escalated into direct action at a public meeting on Wednesday.

One resident said: "We are going to form an action group to galvanise public opinion against the development, with the help of BEST (Bermuda Environmental and Sustainability Taskforce).

"The group is going to organise a series of petitions, Town Hall meetings and on-site protests, and will object to any application for a liquor licence."

She said: "I don't know if you can describe the mood as militant, but people are very frustrated that the normal and due process was followed, the process of writing objections and then having the appeal rejected.

"In spite of the DAB (Development Applications Board) and an independent inspector opposing the bar, the Minister of the Environment has allowed it to proceed. People are angry that there is a Planning process in place which has rejected the bar, but it has then been approved."

Last night former UBP MP Quinton Edness said in order for the bar to go ahead, the law would have to be changed. Mr. Edness, a former Minister of Works, Agriculture and Housing, said the land at Warwick Long Bay would have to be delisted from the Bermuda National Parks Act 1986.

"The Long Bay development cannot take place just from the (Environment) Minister giving his approval," said Mr. Edness.

"Long Bay is a protected park listed in the schedule of the Parks Act, which means in order for development to take place on any portion of the Park an affirmative resolution has to be taken to the House of Parliament and debated to delist it from the schedule.

"Should the Government proceed with a development or sanction a development on a listed property, it will be violating its own law and so could be subject to a legal challenge."

Independent Senator Walwyn Hughes this week said the granting of a liquor licence would also break the law.

Sen. Hughes spoke out against the development at this week's Senate, saying he was "disappointed" with new Environment Minister Glenn Blakeney's upholding of the appeal.

"I would like to express my disappointment," he said. "This is something which disturbs a lot of people with environmental concerns. I think everybody knows that stretch of beach is a magnificent pristine area which falls in the National Parks scheme.

"I think a lot of people are concerned and disappointed that a decision was taken which overruled the decision of Planners, the DAB and an inspector as well.

"It is sad when you see these pristine areas developed," he said. "These areas are supposed to be kept as far as possible in their pristine state. It is hard to see how a bar and restaurant would fit into that."

Sen. Hughes said: "In the Liquor Licence Act there is a clause which precludes issuing a liquor licence other than a temporary licence, such as for a day. Section 22 (3a) of the Liquor Licence Act (1974) says a licence other than an occasional licence shall not be granted where the premises form part of a Park. And of course this area is in a Park area.

"It's difficult to see how that particular property can be used in this way unless the law is changed. This raises another issue which should have been taken into account when the application was considered."

Opposition Senator Michael Fahy added: "I support entrepreneurship, however this calls into question the Planning process. How is it we can have Planning officers recommend this should not be done and then we have a new Minister of the Environment override all those recommendations?

"I think we need to look at the Planning Act, at how a Minister can override decisions of those in the know."

Mr. Blakeney has upheld an appeal by developer Belcario Thomas following a DAB rejection of the 60-seat restaurant and cocktail bar.

The 'Sandbar' will be situated to the west of the Warwick Long Bay car park and will consist of a split-level wooden decking, with panels anchored into the sand to enable their removal in the event of a hurricane and the end of the summer season.

Mr. Thomas — the events' organiser behind Unite, says he aims to create an "ambient, Ibiza-type bar" and will follow Government conservation and environmental advice to make it "as environmentally-friendly as possible".

He says the 2, 500 sq ft development will be operational between May and November, with a mobile kitchen and 'Port-a-loo' toilets.

Planning officers refused permission for the 'Sandbar' as Warwick Long Bay is zoned as Open Space and a National Park Conservation Area.

The DAB report said: "Warwick Long Bay is the last of Bermuda's pristine beaches. The proposal will have a dominating and detrimental impact on the natural aesthetic of the beach."

It said the development was contrary to the Bermuda National Parks Act 1986 and the Bermuda Plan 1992 Planning Statement.

There were 107 letters of objection to the 'Sandbar', and more than 80 residents went on to protest Mr. Thomas' Planning appeal. Among the residents' concerns are noise, litter and potential parking overflow, while others have called the project an environmental "travesty".

Commenting on Mr. Blakeney's upholding of the appeal, BEST chairman Stuart Hayward said: "What is the point of laws and regulations and the expert counsel of Planners, conservation specialists, custodians of parklands and even an independent inspector, if a Minister can ignore it all, and in the process endorse the trashing of the very environment he is pledged to protect?"

Mr. Blakeney was last night off-Island but said: "I will be making a statement with regard to the Warwick Long Bay beach bar in due course."