The Government was last night accused of failing to properly consult the public about its plan to build a new $500 million hospital in the heart of the Botanical Gardens.

The Sustainable Development Round Table ? the independent team tasked with gathering the public?s views for the Island?s first Sustainable Development Plan ? described consultation on the controversial scheme as ?insufficient?.

The statement said: ?The members of the Sustainable Development Round Table (SDRT) fully understand the need for a new hospital.

?We recognise the issues of time and space and the conflicts involved with every possible site. In addition, we understand the rationale behind the decision by the Government and the Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) to build essentially in the same location.

?However, we firmly believe there is an alternative to concreting over even one single square foot of the Botanical Gardens and we will press the case for this alternative.?

The hospital plan was leaked to the media last week and is rumoured to have been opposed by then-Environment Minister Neletha Butterfield, who was made Minister of Education in last Friday?s Cabinet shuffle.

The replacement for the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital would take up ten acres of protected land and has already provoked the ire of the National Trust.

The SDRT said it was unsure how much consultation had taken place, but added: ?What is clear is that public consultation prior to this new hospital decision was insufficient.?

It went on: ?As evidence of this, there are questions that would normally arise during a thorough consultation. Many of these questions are as yet unanswered because the public has either had no opportunity to ask them or no opportunity to hear and respond to the answers.?

The statement listed questions it said still needed answering, including:

How can the public access the professional analyses and reports about the hardships of constructing on the existing hospital site?

Was an environmental impact assessment done, taking into consideration all possible sites for the new hospital?

If so, who by and what was their consultation process and outreach? Where is their report?

What are the estimates of construction and reconstruction based upon?

Do the estimates include the relocation of the existing 20 buildings on the Botanical Gardens site earmarked for the new hospital? Where are these buildings being relocated to?

The statement said: ?The new hospital development will be the largest capital expenditure made in the history of Bermuda and as such demands full public disclosure.

?The support and commitment of the Bermuda public is critical. This support will not be gained through public relations exercises and statements that may have been cherry-picked from analyses the public has had no opportunity to see. Lasting support comes from soliciting public views on this project, then providing extensive opportunities for those views and responses to be shared, considered, challenged if necessary, and adopted.

?More than a public relations exercise, this has to be a consultation initiative carried out sincerely and openly.?

The SDRT claimed the Government and Bermuda Hospitals Board had attempted to portray the controversy as one of healthcare versus environmentalism.

?Such cavalier divisiveness is unacceptable,? it said. ?We remind the Government that the BHB?s own presentations last year brought forward construction at the existing site as an option.

?It is unconscionable for the Government or the BHB to derogatorily label those who favour its own option either as environmentalists or as anti-healthcare.?

And it said the Government had committed itself to open and transparent consultation when it launched the Sustainable Development Initiative.

?It cannot now abandon those principles. It is paramount for the Government to honour their commitment to both Sustainable Development and to the people of Bermuda.?