On July 8, 2017 the voters of Bermuda overwhelmingly handed the Progressive Labour Party government 24 of the 36 seats, dealing the One Bermuda Alliance a huge punishment for ignoring the wishes of the “majority” of Bermudians over the untendered airport redevelopment and a certain senator’s mission to relaxing the pathways to work-permit residency.

Wind forward to October 27, 2023 and the PLP has four “medals” for outstanding disregard for the wishes of the “majority” of Bermudians. Now these would be the Ministry of Home Affairs and Bermuda Ocean Prosperity Programme versus Bermudian fishermen, the Department of Education versus West End Primary School, the Department of Health versus the people of St David’s over the medical waste incinerator and the Minister of Home Affairs and Gencom versus the people of Bermuda regarding the building of 250 units on one of island’s most iconic tourist destinations.

Since when does a labour government become so arrogant and puts us up for sale as if we are a red light? The approval of the Fairmont Southampton special development order is a sell-out of one of our beloved treasures, which we have all grown up around, visited, eaten at, stayed at and partied at. We have sold ourselves to the lowest bidder for a short-term gain, a long-term loss and a roll of the dice.

I am 100 per cent against the carving-up of 40 acres of pristine hotel property and believe that a referendum on the matter would better serve the national interest and the interest of future generations of Bermudians.

Foreign investment has taken over telecommunications, Belco, the airport and our banks. Foreign investors don’t care about Bermudians; why should they? They are capitalists who have every right to make profits and, apparently, our leaders are open for business at all costs for a political feather in the cap entering an election year, which is going to end up being a thorn if the redevelopment runs into issues.

The Deputy Premier, in his capacity as Minister of Home Affairs, overruled the recommendations of the Department of Planning, the Development Applications Board, 4,000 petitioners, nearby residents and environmental lobbyists. Approval of the SDO last week is a short-sighted decision that will bring great joy to 300 Bermudian construction-industry workers and subcontractors for a period of three years, resulting in the permanent disfigurement of the most picturesque tourism property.

Bermudians trying to protect our island from overdevelopment have, however, agreed that 130 units could be sustainable on the Fairmont Southampton site, but not the 250 units proposed by Karim Alibhai, the Gencom principal, and his investors.

Gencom, a private-equity fund, does not have the $376 million to revamp the Fairmont Southampton; it has to rely on investors. Curtis Dickinson resigned as finance minister in 2022 because he disagreed with the Premier and Deputy Premier, who gave Gencom $133 million in tax concessions over 15 years and a government guarantee of $75 million that could possibly rise to $200 million if it goes in the red. As if that was not bad enough, the One Bermuda Alliance government had previously guaranteed $165 million for the defunct Caroline Bay development.

Bermudians are 100 per cent committed to wanting to see the Fairmont Southampton resort redeveloped, but the deal has to take into consideration the surrounding residents and the long-term national interest.

Westend Properties Ltd, an affiliate of the foreign-owned Gencom, has been given permission in the SDO to develop tourism and residential units at the same time as it redevelops the hotel itself. This is poor negotiating. The Minister of Home Affairs should have ensured that the hotel is 75 per cent renovated before ground is cut for tourism units — and that no residential units be built until the hotel is opened and the tourist units have a 70 per cent-plus occupancy rate. Let’s avoid a repeat of Bermudiana Beach Resort, which has sat empty ever since it was developed on the most picturesque of cliff faces in Bermuda for the purpose of low-cost housing that were never low cost.

I am surprised at how quiet the PLP backbenchers have been. My argument for a referendum is based on the hotel employing 31 per cent the hospitality industry workforce and accounting for 25 per cent of visitors’ beds before it was closed in 2020. This is why the redevelopment is in the national interest.

• Cheryl Pooley is a social commentator and three-times former parliamentary candidate