Tobacco Bay is being wrongfully occupied by the Corporation of St. George's, says a family in the Old Town.

The corporation denies the claims. But after 15 years of claiming rightful ownership, Reginald Smith,66, says he's about to exercise his right and take over the property that is now home to a beach concession.

"It's not in the nature of the corporation to claim something that doesn't belong to them," said Corporation Secretary Nancy Hooper.

She and St. George's Mayor Henry Hayward both say that the corporation has proper title to the property and beach house which has been leased to businessman Kirk Bertram.

Mr. Smith is adamant that the property has belonged to his family for over 100 years and that neither the government nor the corporation have any proper documents to prove that any of the property was legally transferred to them.

He says both government and the corporation are actually squatting on his property.

Government built an access road to Tobacco Bay in the 1970s. "Our reaction was 'who gave them permission to put it there?' Of course we got no answer to that and they went ahead and put it in anyway."

Mr. Smith, who lives in the family homestead overlooking Tobacco Bay, said that he would have been willing to negotiate the use of the land for the road if only he had been asked. "They haven't negotiated with me for anything they want to do down there - that's my problem. In other words, I'm here and they are totally ignoring me."

Now he is planning to block the entrance to Tobacco Bay.

"They don't have no documents from me or the Smith's family to prove they can put a road down there," he told The Royal Gazette. He added that whatever deed document the corporation does have is flawed and he can prove it. And the corporation only produced the deed after more than a decade of his demanding that they do so. "We're saying they're false," said Mr. Smith of the corporation's documents.

But his efforts to rectify the matter have been stymied by his own lawyers over the years, he said. Mr. Smith is claiming that lawyers he has hired in the past have been working instead to save the previous UBP government a major embarrassment.

St. George's Mayor Henry Hayward said he is familiar with the family and is somewhat sympathetic to Mr. Smith.

"I knew his family and his claim to what he is saying is that this is what they told him, which puts him in an unfortunate position if he can not bring forth documents to prove it."

The current PLP Government say they know nothing of the dispute.

"All they have to do is show some kind of title," said Works and Engineering Minister Alex Scott. "If they have a legitimate claim we would be the first to honour it. However, we have to be very judicious and we can't concede title to property if the case isn't abundantly clear."