A second environmental group has urged the Government to reject a request for a special development order by Fairmont Southampton hotel developers.

The Bermuda National Trust issued the plea after the controversial SDO application by Westend Properties Limited went before the Development Applications Board last week.

The DAB has the authority to recommend to the Government whether or not an SDO should be approved, but the final decision rests with the Minister of Home Affairs, Walter Roban.

The DAB website is down because of the cyberattack, so minutes are not available and there has been no comment from board members reached by The Royal Gazette on their decision, nor have questions to the ministry been answered.

The resort, which was shut in 2021, is to undergo a major revamp under the proposal and is seen by the Government as key to revitalising the island’s tourism industry.

The Government has granted Westend millions of dollars in tax breaks to push the development forward, and also backed the company’s proposals to build hundreds of residential units on the environmentally sensitive property.

But the plans, which include building residential units in blocks of up to four storeys — have been hit with criticisms since they were first unveiled in April.

In a statement yesterday, the Bermuda National Trust noted that the Government’s own planning officers had submitted a 61-page review of the application to the DAB, advising that it should not go ahead.

A spokeswoman said: “The Department of Planning’s recommendation that the SDO should be refused supports the stance of the Bermuda National Trust and other environmental organisations, hundreds of individual objectors and the thousands who signed the petition, who do not believe the proposed development of 250 new units at Fairmont Southampton is in the best interests of Bermuda and Bermudians.

“It is clearly not just a small number of ‘tree-huggers’ who think the SDO would be bad for Bermuda.

“The Department of Planning’s report for the Development Applications Board is damning in its assessment of the proposal, which it says ‘has clearly not been designed having regard to key principles of sustainable development’.

“That report is based on extensive consultation with technical officers from across many government departments including Energy, Environment, Health, Transport, the Tourism Regulation and Policy Unit, and Works & Engineering.

“The conclusion is clear. The proposal is ‘an unsustainable form of development which would result in several adverse environmental effects which the applicant has failed to demonstrate can or would be satisfactorily mitigated’.

“It says that the risk of the hotel not being reopened if the SDO is denied does not ‘outweigh the harm which would be caused by the proposed development’.

“BNT calls on Minister Roban to do the right thing and refuse this special development order.

“The conclusion of Government’s own planning department is that this development is not in the national interest. It cannot be allowed to proceed.”

An SDO granted in 2009 gave planning permission in principle for 71 fractional tourism units, 37 residential villas and 22 town homes at the property.

However, Westend Properties sought a new SDO in April to raise capital, consisting of 261 units, the majority of which were earmarked for residential use.

That SDO was scaled back to 250 units in another revision in July, with 159 units being allocated for tourism use and 91 units set aside for residential use.

Last week, pressure group the Bermuda Environmental Sustainability Taskforce also urged the Government to follow the recommendations of planners and the DAB, claiming that the Government had a conflict of interest.

Mr Roban did not respond when asked by this newspaper if the DAB had forwarded its recommendation to the ministry.

Westend had earlier said that it hoped to break ground on the project this month, although a final contract between its parent company, Gencom, and the Government has still to be signed.

Last week David Burt, the Premier, said that the parties were “getting very close to closing” — almost a year after first claiming that the deal was “done”.