News that another Special Development Order has been granted for a hotel on South Road has caused concern among residents.

Yesterday The Royal Gazette spoke with members of the public in Hamilton about the recent announcement that the Minister of the Environment granted a SDO for the Grand Atlantic Resort in Warwick.

The hotel will be nine-storeys high and is situated on a 13.1 acre plot, some of which was zoned as woodlands. It is also near the proposed Southlands development, which has already been granted an SDO.

The Royal Gazette asked nine people what they thought of the recent use of SDOs for hotel development — seven said they were against it.

Dee Williams, who is an accounts manager, said: “I don’t think it is a good idea we are overdeveloped as it is and we are taking up a lot of the open space left on the Island. There are too many buildings going up.”

While Geoffrey Frith, the president of Container Ship Management, thought it was wrong to supersede current Planning laws.

“Why do we have a Planning Board and a Development Act if we do not use it?” he asked. “I am against the way it is being done. It seems to be going over the procedures that are in place.”

Retiree Randolf Ratteray said he was also opposed.

“I am against it because it will be too crowded. There is another hotel going up right next to that one,” he said.

And Bridgett Jardine, a retired teacher, questioned whether there was enough demand for two big hotels so close to one another.

“I wonder how they are going to fill them,” she said. “A lot of our other hotels are not full a lot of the time and now they want to build another large hotel on that road. I just don’t know if it will work.”

Singer Joy Barnum also questioned the density of the development in that area. “There is already one supposed to be going up down the road,” she said. “If we can fill up what we have all year round, then fine. But we can’t. We are losing valuable open space.”

Raquel Smith, a summer intern, said: “I am not really for it because I think if we are going to be building these large buildings we should be doing it for an insurance centre or a bigger college, not a hotel.”

While personal trainer Gareth Dixon said he thought the hotel was not needed.

“I am against it because of the destruction to the wildlife and it is unnecessary,” he said.

But banker Calvin Blankendal said he understood the need for SDOs in some cases. “I think there are two sides to it,” he said. “I would like to see us working with the current hotels we have and repairing them. We should see if overseas investors want to renovate them.

“But I also see that there is a need for new developments as well. If we could mirror the two, working with what we have and building some new hotels, I think it would be a good balance.”

Officer manager Lisa Fraser Smith agreed, noting: “I understand the need for new hotels — this is a tourism Island. I think it is a shame they are building on some of the open spaces but I can see that there needs to be new hotels.”