Objectors to the idea of the Southlands estate being redeveloped as an ambitious five-star hotel resort were busily sending in letters of protest as the deadline for doing so was reached yesterday.

At least one email being circulated on the Island featured a template objection letter that people could copy and sign and deliver to the Planning Department.

And a formal objection from the National Trust has also been placed on the file which is to go before planning bosses.

The 37-acre, wildly overgrown estate in Warwick, has been earmarked for a two-phase hotel resort.

The Jumeirah group, operators of some of the world’s most opulent and spectacular hotels, is lined up to run the hotel once it is completed.

Developer Southlands Limited, whose four key figures are businessmen Craig Christensen, Nelson Hunt, Brian Duperreault and wife Nancy, have submitted breath-taking artist’s impressions and drawings of how the new hotel resort will look. One of the most unusual aspects is a request to ‘bury’ South Road beneath a large land bridge.

Requests for two special development orders (SDOs) have been made, which would allow the scheme to proceed without fulfilling normal planning procedure considerations.

Objections to the scheme had to be filed by 5 p.m. last night to be considered by planning officials.

One of those opposed to the plan is Alex Cabrall, who said: “This situation is along the same premise as building a new hospital on the Botanical Gardens. Bermuda has very limited green space left, which one cannot put a price tag on.

“To my knowledge there has been no Environmental Impact Assessment done, and if so, it has not been made public.

“I understand the need to develop the tourism industry, however, why can’t a new hotel be built on an existing site such as the old Club Med site which is sitting empty, or the Naval Annex, which is vacant?”

And in an email letter of objection being sent out across the Island for people to sign and lodge at the Planning Department a number of objections were listed, including;

[bul]The proposal seeks to build on woodland and open space protected from development.

[bul]It would seek to alter the coastal zone.

[bul]The proposal violates the spirit of the Sustainable Development Strategy by seeking to build on previously undeveloped land.

[bul]It seeks to divert traffic through a tunnel.

[bul]It should be considered together with another proposal for a nine-storey hotel in the adjacent property to the east.

The letter also lodges disapproval at the attempt to “side-step planning applications” through SDOs and calls for an Environmental Impact Assessment in view of the magnitude of the proposal.

The letter urges: “I would therefore propose that the requisite Environmental Impact Assessments be conducted, in full view of the public, and only then can the public be fairly called upon to participate in the planning approval process.

“I am suggesting that given how much the public does not know about the ramifications of this application, it is unfair to expect the public to be reasonably able to consent or object by the imposed deadline of January 5.”

As previously reported by The Royal Gazette artist’s impressions of the scheme are public documents and can be viewed at the Planning Department on request, however the developers and their agents have so far not allowed the plans to be reproduced in the media.

Southlands is currently a mostly overgrown woodland habitat, having once been a manicured botanical garden-style environment with unusual quarried gardens dating back to the late 1800s. It was bought for $175,000,000 by the Willowbank Foundation charitable trust in 1976 and went under the control of developers Southlands Limited in December 2005.

In a statement on the proposal, the Bermuda National Trust said: “Of great concern is that this proposed development encroaches significantly onto a number of conservation areas.

“Every effort should be made for this proposed development to comply with Bermuda’s Planning Policy and as such, the development should be confined to those areas of a property that have previously been set out for development purposes. The Southlands property has a large developable area and we do not feel that the encroachment onto the woodland reserves and the protected open/green spaces should be permitted, and as a consequence, Bermuda’s Planning Policy overridden for the benefit of a developer.

“In fact, this application seeks to develop a large area of the woodland and open space that were protected by a Section 34 Agreement when original permission was given, in 1993, for a tourism development at this site.”

The Trust also feels the application “seeks excessive foreshore development not compatible with Bermuda Planning Policy, reportedly for the purposes of eliminating coastal erosion and associated development setbacks.

“If permitted the Trust is of the opinion that the foreshore will be eliminated and the natural quality of South shore severely impacted. The consequence of such an approach is the eventual transformation of Bermuda’s South shore into a concrete promenade.”

And the National Trust ends: “This development is one of many pending large tourism/residential developments. Each of the recent cases has the potential to produce an enormous impact on the Island and the Trust believes that these projects, which could produce harms as great as the reported benefits, must be subject to the most rigorous and transparent scrutiny.

“As such, we feel that it is vital that independent Environmental Impact Assessments be carried out to determine their collective impact on Bermuda’s environment and also evaluations undertaken to establish their burden on the Island’s infrastructure and in doing so establish whether Bermuda can sustain their collective impact.”