Environmentalists have welcomed the move to hold public meetings to discuss the master plan for the America’s Cup event village.

Stuart Hayward, the chief advocacy officer of BEST, said in a statement: “BEST is very encouraged by and wants to acknowledge the increasingly transparent process.”

Last year, BEST appealed the decision that permitted the landfill, interim and end uses at the South Basin, and in December succeeded with its appeal in a Supreme Court judgment resulting in the rejection of the end-uses that developer Wedco had in mind: a commercial boatyard, a luxury marina and the consolidated offices and maintenance facility for the Marine and Ports Department.

According to a press release, the core issue for BEST was that the Environmental Impact Assessment that was initially conducted for the project was substandard and inadequate to uphold the Development Applications Board’s legal obligation to obtain the best possible environmental information on which to base its decision.

BEST said that from the outset it informed the developer, the Department of Planning, the DAB and the minister that the submitted EIA was “too flawed to rely upon”.

The statement said: “All of those entities dismissed BEST’s concerns and, driven by the pressure of the America’s Cup, pressed ahead with the development. The court’s decision affirms BEST’s stance.”

It adds that Bermuda Environmental Consulting Ltd was the author of the emergency EIA that was conducted as “a very last minute replacement”, prior to the planning application for the landfill itself.

Mr Hayward said: “Having BEC involved in the handling of the EIA process for the interim village is a positive step, in our view. BEC has a clear understanding of the primacy of environmental safeguards.

“In our meetings with BEC as part of the EIA scoping process, BEST was pleased to hear their affirmation that there is zero planning permission so far for any aspect of the end-uses and, with that in mind, the structures erected for the event village must be dismantled and removed once the America’s Cup has departed.”

The EIA documents for the America’s Cup event master plan are available at www.acbda.bm. The public can also contact BEC Ltd at 400-5990 ext 22 or 23 for further information or to submit feedback on the EIA documents.

ACBDA public meetings will take place at 5.30pm tomorrow in the Anglican Cathedral, and at 6pm on Wednesday at the Oracle Team USA Base at Freeport Drive in Dockyard.

“We ask the community to attend the meetings and express any concerns that arise to BEC,” Mr Hayward said.

“Come out to either meeting and get involved in protecting this island that we love, the place we live in, the place we’ve grown up in for generations. Together we can find a more sustainable and healthy way to continue living here. Join us in protecting our people and our communities.”