Jaché Adams, the Minister of Public Works and Environment, insisted that the Government had “done its homework” on a pair of planning applications for Southlands, but no final decision has been made.

“The ministry has taken a careful, thoughtful and transparent approach,” he said. “We followed the law, consulted widely and made meaningful changes based on public feedback.”

He said plans remained under review, with the planning department awaiting formal feedback from the Parks Commission before he could review recommendations and feedback ahead of a decision.

He added: “At the heart of this is a simple goal — to bring Southlands back to life in a way that respects nature, honours history and gives the public better access and enjoyment without overdevelopment.”

The comments came in response to questions by Linda Smith, the Shadow Minister of Youth, Social Development and Seniors, who asked for details on due diligence undertaken for proposals for the Warwick park.

The first concerns a proposal for a zip-line attraction for the portion of the park north of South Road, while the second is for a café and amenities on the southern side.

“These are not the only applications related to Southlands,” Mr Adams said. “There have been others focused on restoring existing buildings and carrying out repairs.

“I also note that while many people picture Southlands as untouched wilderness, the reality is that the property already includes paved pathways and abandoned infrastructure. I make the point simply to say to those that may not be aware that development within Southlands already exists.

“It is also important to state that under the Bermuda National Parks Act, the Government is not allowed to carry out any major development in a national park unless there is a management plan in place.

“Until that plan is approved, only work that preserves or restores the land is allowed, so before anything was filed, we followed the law. The ministry focused only on cleaning up the park and fixing what was broken, including clearing overgrown vegetation, repairing stone walls, quarry gardens, ponds and historic features.”

Mr Adams told the House that work on a Park Management Plan began in November 2020, and in January 2021 a public survey was conducted.

“If I can generalise, most people wanted the park kept as natural as possible, but they also wanted basic facilities like restrooms and play areas,” he said.

He said that a Southlands Park Improvement Scheme was launched in April 2021 to prevent further damage to buildings in the park, while in November 2021 work began on a five-year plan for the property.

“Phase one focused on the northern side with pedestrian areas and restored buildings and phase two focused on the southern side with amenities to help people enjoy the park,” Mr Adams said.

He said more work was carried out in 2022 to clear overgrown areas and, between September 2022 and March 2023, the Government invited the public and businesses to share ideas through an expression of interest process.

Mr Adams said 14 groups responded, suggesting options including zip lines, horseback riding, small cafés, a wellness retreat, Airbnb-style stays, petting zoos and electric car rentals.

“This is important because these ideas did not come from David Burt,” Mr Adams added. “They did not come from my predecessor, they did not come from some cruise line or secret investor. These came from Bermudians.”

He said that in March 2022, the ministry began to prepare applications with input from the Department of Planning, the Parks Department and the National Parks Commission, and the following May a Southlands Park Panel was created to help guide how to best use the land without damaging it.

“In late 2022 to 2023, we consulted with the National Parks Commission, the Bermuda National Trust and Audubon Society,” Mr Adams said.

“Based on their feedback, the ministry made several changes including scaling the restaurant down to a smaller café, reducing the building size from around 9,000 square feet to under 5,000 square feet and possibly as low as 3,000 square feet, moving the café further from the cliff, improved bike parking, adding solar energy and EV charging stations.

“All of these amendments were made to the application based off of the consultation with those various entities.

“In April 2023 to 2024, the zip line was selected for phase one using an existing building. It received support at that time and is now awaiting final approval.

“In March 2025, before submitting the applications, the ministry hired Brunel Ltd to do a traffic impact study to make sure that parking and access would be made safe and manageable.”

Mr Adams denied that there had been discussions with cruise lines about the use of the park, and said that any taxpayer involvement in a public-private partnership for the zip-line plan was still under discussion.

“These are ongoing negotiations,” he added. “No final decision has been made.”