Over half of those surveyed by the Sustainable Development Project said Bermudians did not work well together or serve in the best interest of the Island.

Government?s 2005 Public Perception Study on Sustainable Development was unveiled yesterday at Cabinet by Premier Alex Scott and Sustainable Development Project Team Leader Ross Andrews.

?Just over four in ten Bermudians believed that Bermudians worked very well in partnership, or quite well in partnership, to meet the needs of the Island,? Mr. Andrews said. ?However, more than half believe Bermudians don?t work well together in the interest of the Island, or that they don?t work very well at all.?

Those most likely to hold a negative opinion on this matter include residents from Sandys, Southampton, Hamilton, Smith?s and St. George?s, along with women and those whose household income was $50,000 or greater, he said.

This meant Bermudians had to work at building better partnerships, he said.

The study was taken from a random telephone surveys of 401 residents between April 29 and May 7.

?The Government wanted to take the pulse of Bermuda and find out what Bermuda wanted for the future,? he said. ?It?s no surprise the number one for most Bermudians was affordable housing.?

It showed a broad variety of issues Bermuda was worried about and how confident it was that these issues could be solved, he said.

Tackling the housing issue and providing residents with educational and training programmes were considered essential factors to Bermuda?s long-term success, he said.

Other issues ? including addressing anti-social behaviours, the cost of living, protecting the marine environment and healthcare ? were also deemed critically important by the vast majority of those surveyed, Mr. Andrews said.

Residents were unable to identify new sectors for development but considered the agricultural sector important to Bermuda?s future, which he said was a surprise.

?While views were mixed with regards to equal employment opportunities ? racism and a lack of education was cited as the main barriers to employment equity,? he said.

And he said there was strong support for implementing initiatives to ensure Bermudians were able to fill positions whenever possible.

Residents expressed a high level of concern over the rate and pace of spatial development of Bermuda and held Government responsible to preserve open space, he said.

?We asked who you thought was responsible for this because much of the open space is in private hands,? he said. ?A response came back, ?Well, we think Government needs to act to preserve open space in Bermuda.??

He said residents supported further development of already-developed areas and brownfield sites but also believed new construction should fit in with Bermuda?s traditional architectural style.

And although residents placed importance on a variety of construction initiatives ? affordable housing, the Causeway and a new hospital construction were given the highest priority, he said.

Recycling programmes were identified as a key activity needed to reduce Bermuda?s level of waste.

With the exception of health care service, the delivery of Bermuda?s social programmes and services ? including drug and prisoner rehabilitation and family and social services ? were rated unfavourably, he said.

There was a clear need for increasing childcare programmes for school-aged children, he said, and harsher punishment and improved education and training were considered key in addressing Bermuda?s prisoner re-offending problem as well as the Island?s drug problem.

And residents had a favourable impression of the current tax system and were supportive of proposed tax breaks, but there was overwhelming support for tax breaks on environmental initiatives.

The project team has been working with the material since May, Mr. Andrews said, compiling a draft copy of an action plan which went before a roundtable and should be presented by Cabinet soon.