Although the public comment phase of the Southlands Planning application is closed, the public debate has perhaps never been more contentious.

Southlands developer Craig Christensen has accused environmentalist Stuart Hayward of using the proposed south shore resort as a media platform to campaign for a seat in the House of Assembly at the next election.

Mr. Christensen said: “Anything that crops up right now, he’s jumping on the press.

“I think that Stuart Hayward is a political poached egg, looking for a piece of toast to sit on.”

When The Royal Gazette contacted Mr. Hayward for a response he fired back.

“Mr. Christensen is welcome to question my motive, however for him to impute motive, that is, make a guess as to my motives then put his guess out there as fact is improper and outrageous, in addition to being evidentially wrong. I have championed environmental causes in this community for over 30 years, always with the simple motive to protect an environment that, while the basis for survival for all of us, is constantly under threat.”

Mr. Christensen is part of a group of Bermudians who have requested a special development order (SDO) from the Ministry of Environment to speed up the construction of a five-star resort on Warwick’s south shore. The SDO, if granted, would also allow part of the project to be built on environmentally protected land.

On Sunday, Mr. Hayward’s environmental action group Bermuda Environment and Sustainability Taskforce (BEST), will host a fundraiser walk called “Save the South Shore”. The organisers requested permission to walk on the Southlands private property. The request was denied because the developer team believes the size of the group is too invasive for the people who currently live at Southlands.

Plus, Mr. Christensen claims, Mr. Hayward never followed though on a previous invitation to visit.

“I said a ‘select few’ so we could have a small manageable group to go up there and be able to look at the property, review the plans and be able to make an informed opinion. I didn’t expect him to agree with me, but at least he could make an informed opinion. The invitation was never taken.”

Although he didn’t accept that specific offer from Mr. Christensen, Mr. Hayward says members of BEST have visited the site as part of regular tour groups.

“We chose to go anonymously so as not to be confrontational and to be sure we heard the same message that other tours got.”

It’s not clear what, if anything, will be accomplished by a tit for tat between the two sides now that the SDO request is in the hands of Environment Minister Neletha Butterfield. The law permits her to have the final and ultimate say.

But that has not precluded the would-be developers from taking their case to the public — perhaps more of late than at any other time since the plans were revealed late last year.

On Wednesday, in this newspaper, Mr. Christensen used Government statistics to argue that the Southlands project was of ‘national importance’ to the country’s bid to re-establish its tourism product to 1986 levels.

Today, Mr. Hayward is also using Government statistics to point out his view that Bermuda’s infrastructure can not handle widespread hotel expansion.

He said: “Bermuda is more densely packed now than it was in 1986. There are more residents. There is more traffic on our roads. And there are more international companies with a greater number of guest-worker staffing.

“In 1986, Bermuda’s population was 57,619. By 2005, Bermuda’s population was above 68,000. That’s over 10,000 more residents who will be competing for sidewalk space, store clerk attention, public and private transportation and other basic services.

“The Southlands hotel proposal with its requirements for additional foreign staff, for construction and operation has little

‘national importance’ beyond the strain it will impose on Bermuda’s infrastructure, the loss of precious open space, and the pressure being put on the Government to overturn good sense Planning standards and processes.”

Mr. Christensen and Mr. Hayward met in January to discuss their differences over the Southlands proposal. During that meeting Mr. Hayward was accused of spreading misinformation in a newspaper column he writes. Mr. Christensen is resentful no correction was ever printed.

He said: “I don’t know what his agenda is and why he continues to not want to understand the site.

“To me he has all of a sudden popped up after he got dumped from the sustainable development taskforce which I presume was because he was on a no development programme.”

Mr. Hayward’s retort: “Whether as a campaigner, a researched and writer, an academic, a member of a Government Board or not, my credential as an environmental advocate are impeccable and Mr. Christensen ought to be ashamed to suggest otherwise.”