The much-needed legal action comes amid growing public concern over private developments and luxury resorts restricting public beach access in Jamaica. Dr Devon Taylor, President of JaBBEM, told The Voice, “The Beaches of Jamaica are national treasure and should be fully accessible by Jamaicans and friends of Jamaica. We should not have to engage the courts, especially against our own government, to protect our rights; they should be written into our constitution. The coastal land monopoly also affects the livelihood of local fishermen. Read full article by Sinai Fleary at The Voice.
Jamaican campaigners will attend court today to defend beach access rights in Montego Bay.
Jamaica Beach Birthright Environmental Movement (JaBBEM), the Flanker Resource Centre and neighbouring communities around the historic Providence Beach have joined forces to protect the public rights to access the Providence Beach and sea channels under the Prescription Act of 1882.
The campaign group claim communities are being displaced to make way for a new resort by Sandals Resort International (SRI) – which includes overwater bungalows for tourists.
In a media release, JaBBEM said: “This is against the displacement and dispossession of communities from the beach for the development of villas and overwater bungalows (hotel rooms) by Sandals Resorts International (SRI).
“According to the Government of Jamaica (GoJ) land records, the Airports Authority of Jamaica (AAJ), a statutory corporation of the GoJ, is the current property owner for part of the land which adjoins the Caribbean Sea and encompasses the track/roadway accessible to Providence Beach.” The legal action to protect access to Providence and Flanker Beach begins Monday, October 6, 2025, in the St. James Parish Court.
Beach access
The campaign group say part of the roadway to the beach passes through a property owned by a private company. They added: “This suit brought by the community seeks to protect their rights to use the track/roadway over the lands for beach access and use of the sea, preservation of their fishing rights and to secure continued use of critically important sea channels.”
According to an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Report for Sandals, Montego Bay, (Over water Villas), the company is proposing to construct “18 overwater bungalows, pylons, a supporting boardwalk carrying utility pipes, 10 villa style suites, wetland conversion and coastal modification.”
The report also says: “Sandals’ first overwater bungalows were constructed in late 2016, representing the Caribbean’s first such offering to compete with similar facilities in the French Polynesia. Since then, Sandals has constructed more overwater bungalows at its facilities located at Sandals South Coast Jamaica, Sandals Grande St. Lucian and Sandals St. Vincent. Montego Bay would represent the sixth location of Sandals Overwater bungalows in the Caribbean and third in Jamaica.” But campaigners argue the project will not benefit Jamaicans and will only provide low wage jobs. [. . .]
Not giving up
The group [said] in May 2025, “The communities communicated to the GoJ via NEPA, Environmental Solutions Limited, Technical and Environmental Management Network Limited and SRI, that they will not surrender their rights to the beach and the sea at Providence Beach.”
Additionally, JaBBEM along with several individuals and organisations including Jamaica Environmental Trust, Stronger Caribbean Together, say they submitted written responses to the EIA regarding this development on coastal land with mangroves and in the sea and are awaiting a response. [. . .] “The community is therefore asking the court to legally recognise their indefeasible land rights to continue accessing the beach and use of the sea. The building of overwater bungalows is of serious environmental concern in Jamaica where privatisation of the coastline is depriving the country of a collective space, namely the beach and the sea. The emergence of overwater hotel rooms denies the public use of the sea.”
Dr Devon Taylor, President of JaBBEM, previously told The Voice, “the biggest driver” of Jamaicans losing access to beaches is through private beachfront property owners. He added: “The Beaches of Jamaica are national treasure and should be fully accessible by Jamaicans and friends of Jamaica. We should not have to engage the courts, especially against our own government, to protect our rights; they should be written into our constitution. [. . .]
Also in the release, JaBBEM added that with an ongoing “climate catastrophe” they are deeply concerned about the “continued coastal land monopoly.” [. . .]
For full article, see https://www.voice-online.co.uk/news/uk-news/2025/10/07/jamaican-campaigners-launch-legal-action-to-defend-local-access-montego-bay-beach/
[Shown above (photo from Getty): “Some local Jamaicans are being turned away from beaches on their doorstep due to the development of coastlines by hotels, villas and private residences.”]
The much-needed legal action comes amid growing public concern over private developments and luxury resorts restricting public beach access in Jamaica. Dr Devon Taylor, President of JaBBEM, told The Voice, “The Beaches of Jamaica are national treasure and should be fully accessible by Jamaicans and friends of Jamaica. We should not have to engage the courts, especially against
