Dear Sir,
My name is Mildred Young, a native and part-time resident of Wemyss Bight, Eleuthera where you are the member of Parliament.
On September 12, 2023, the environmental impact assessment (EIA) public consultation for the Cotton Bay Holdings project was held in Rock Sound at the Business Hub.
I attended via Microsoft Teams, and encouraged many people from Wemyss Bight to do likewise. A lot of the people in the community chat were very dismal and knew nothing about it even though guidelines were given for them to follow, but to no success.
Many people attempted to procure the physical copies of the EIA document from the Administrator's Office as instructed, and this attempt also failed due to the copy machine being out of order.
Electronic copies were sent to them, but the preference for the physical document was paramount for comprehension with the mature audience. The ground attendance clearly explains that.
As the member of Parliament for South Eleuthera, would you please kindly educate the people so they could be part of this process or any other involvement concerning them?
This is an excellent project, but I do not want history to repeat itself. The old Cotton Bay is a part of Wemyss Bight. It was called the "White Land", where our parents farmed and fished.
The development process of Cotton Bay as we know it now started in 1956.
I was only one year old at the time the operation began in 1959, and boasted the success of various enterprises, see page three of the EIA.
What can we say about the socio-economic improvements after 64 years in our community?
Unfortunately, our parents do not have to come back to see the surrounding community has not improved after 60-plus years.
A few of us are still here to see the comparison, and if we continue this path, the road to progress for the community looks bleak.
We know we are in the technology age, but people could not get one hard copy from the office. They were asked to come and look over the document. The PDF was sent to some people, but much difficulty arose in viewing.
This document is very complex, even for me using the hard and electronic copies.
I feel that even if only one section, socioeconomic impacts, was explained to the people, they might have shown more interest. Please do not leave them out; educate them.
Therefore, I am requesting that your office, along with other major stakeholders, facilitate a community/town hall meeting to discuss the project with the directly impacted community stakeholders of Wemyss Bight and the other neighboring settlements, in addition to the multitude of queries and concerns identified during the Department of Environmental Planning and Protection public consultation, including but not limited to:
1. Providing the heads of agreement
2. Community footprints plan for Wemyss Bight
3. Environmental waste management plan for Wemyss Bight
4. Chris Brown Boulevard and Coco Plum Drive relocation
5. Pre and post construction employment percentages
Your constituents are relying on you, their representative, to give us a seat at the table in our attempt to ensure that the much-needed progress for Wemyss Bight, and South Eleuthera is sustainable and equitable.
Yours truly,
— Mildred Young
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