Claudia Gardner, Staff Reporter

This entrance leads to Bloody Bay Beach in Negril, Hanover. It is private property, but the owner has allowed the public access. Residents say it is the only accessible point to the Bloody Bay Beach. - Photo by Claudia Gardner

In Hanover, a fuss is brewing over public access to the seven-mile strip, Negril Beach.

According to Fredrocious Miller, councillor of the Green Island division of the Hanover Parish Council, access points to sections of the Negril Beach have been blocked to the public.

The resort town is shared between Hanover and Westmoreland. Hanover accounts for the smaller portion of the seven-mile beach which includes Bloody Bay and a section of Long Bay.

"I have been complaining about it for a long time, but the problem still exists," Councillor Miller tells The Sunday Gleaner. "As far as I know, there are no public spaces. The UDC has sold the lands there," he continues.

Wired off

This wall on the Bryan's Bay Beach in Portland was illegally erected in an attempt to prevent fishermen from playing sports on the bathing section of the beach. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

"The section on which no hotels have been built, they wire it off and the only free space left is at the RIU hotel, and that is private property. There is no public entry point left on the Hanover side of Negril. If entry points exist, I want UDC to tell me where it is.

"My daughter came from abroad recently, and we wanted to go to the beach and we had to walk through people's property to enter the beach," adds Councillor Miller.

In June 2005, former Mayor of Lucea and Chairman of the Hanover Parish Council Lester Crooks had demanded that the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) desist from selling any more beachfront properties located in Bloody Bay, Hanover, during a regular monthly meeting of the council.

The mayor told the meeting that he was upset that the UDC's actions had resulted in the general public being denied access to certain sections of the beach and warned that very soon, the public would have no access to the beach.