The story in yesterday's Royal Gazette on the vandalism at the former US Navy installation at Tudor Hill, Southampton is a symbol of Bermuda's failure to put the windfall of the return of the military bases to Bermuda to good use.

The Tudor Hill property was perhaps the smallest base, and was used to track submarines throughout the world.

Nonetheless, it was and is a prime piece of real estate that could have been utilised by any number of organisations.

That it has not been, and has instead been allowed to fall into vandalised disrepair should shame the current and former governments and the Bermuda Land Development Company.

It is extraordinary that the BLDC did not even seem to be aware of the damage done to the property. When it is added to the closure of the Daniel's Head eco-resort, the failure to find a developer or a use for the Morgan's Point property and the slow development of Southside, it makes for a sorry record.

That is not to say that adapting the former bases was ever going to be easy, especially while negotiations for the final handover of the property dragged on and on. But almost a decade has past and it would be reasonable to expect a better record than this.