Residents of St Philip parish in Barbados have secured formal commitments from Prime Minister Mia Mottley and local parliamentary representatives to advance long-delayed projects restoring and expanding the parish’s recreational and heritage spaces. The pledges came out of the latest community Ideas Forum, held Monday night at Princess Margaret Secondary School, where locals gathered to lay out pressing needs for shared public spaces that serve young athletes, aging residents, community organizers, and the island’s tourism sector.
Many of the appeals centered on expanding access to safe recreational infrastructure, a need framed by residents as critical to supporting youth development and steering young people away from involvement in criminal activity. Long-time community advocate Jones, a committee member of the popular Long Bay 5K run, opened the call for increased public investment in recreational facilities to keep local youth productively engaged.
Sherwin Greenidge, a Gemswick resident, expanded on this demand, putting forward a detailed proposal for a combined community recreation and wellness center on a vacant, previously used plot of land in his neighborhood. Greenidge noted that for more than 25 years, local residents have advocated for development on this site, pointing to unmet needs across multiple demographic groups. Talented young football and cricket players who currently hone their skills at the Dodds detention facility would gain a dedicated public space to practice, while older residents like himself would no longer need to compete with vehicle traffic to walk for exercise in the Gemswick area.
Under Greenidge’s plan, the multi-use facility would include outdoor playing fields, a pavilion, a gym, and a dedicated walking and jogging track, supporting both elite youth athletic development and routine healthy activity for all residents. He added that the center could also double as an emergency resource hub during natural disasters, expanding its public value beyond recreation.
Fellow Gemswick resident Jim Brown echoed Greenidge’s call, delivering an impassioned appeal for upgrades to the neighborhood’s existing playing field—an improvement he has lobbied consecutive governments to deliver for more than 30 years. Brown noted that the upgraded field could host cricket, netball, walking groups, and provide a safe gathering space for local youth.
Responding to these requests, St Philip South Member of Parliament Indar Weir confirmed that preliminary talks over land acquisition for the proposed Gemswick recreation center began with former housing minister Dwight Sutherland, and that Prime Minister Mottley first committed to the project ahead of the 2018 general election. Progress was derailed by the global COVID-19 pandemic, but Weir reaffirmed the government’s commitment to delivering both the new center and the playing field upgrades.
“I am strongly supporting Jim Brown and Sherwin to make sure we have the facility delivered to the people at Gemswick,” Weir said. “This also came up in the last election campaign, and I can also give you the assurance that I discussed it with the prime minister…The youngsters, when I canvassed the area, also reminded me that they needed to make sure they have that facility delivered to them.”
Weir also addressed resident calls for dedicated safe walking spaces, revealing that negotiations are already underway with the private owner of Oldbury Woods to open the land for public use. He added that there are ongoing discussions to redevelop the wooded area, which is home to a large concentration of mahogany trees, into a national mahogany park that would include public vending opportunities for local entrepreneurs, leveraging its strategic location to drive community economic activity.
Beyond recreational infrastructure, long-time local educator Betty-Lyn Estwick pushed for urgent restoration of the iconic Ragged Point Lighthouse, a key historical and tourist site that has fallen into disrepair. Estwick argued that the rusted, unmaintained site is not fit to welcome visiting tourists, and called for it to be redeveloped into a safe public recreational space with new landscaping and seating. She also highlighted the need for improved maintenance and restoration for other Barbados heritage sites including Mount Hillaby and the Morgan Lewis Windmill, and called for the reinstatement of the Parks and Beaches Commission, the former agency replaced by the National Conservation Commission that previously oversaw management of public recreational and heritage spaces.
“How do we feel comfortable telling visitors, these are our places of interest, and then we don’t take care of them? If tourism is our business, let us take it seriously and let us really play our part,” Estwick said. “If you bring back parks and beaches and you give them good supervisors, let them see that you’re serious, they can have responsibility for looking after these places and keeping them looking the way they should look.”
Attorney General Wilfred Abrahams backed Estwick’s call, noting that expanding and diversifying Barbados’ tourism and recreational offerings beyond the island’s most well-known sites is a key priority, and he would personally advocate for moving forward with the lighthouse restoration. St Philip North MP Dr. Sonia Browne also confirmed support for the project, adding that a formal proposal for a lighthouse museum centered on the site’s historical heritage has already been submitted to government for consideration.
In closing out the forum, local resident Carl Padmore called for a new performance space at Princess Margaret Secondary School to be named in honor of pioneering Barbadian theatre figure Osbert McLean, and pushed for greater preservation of Six Roads’ unique historical heritage and its contributions to St Philip’s development.
Addressing attendees after the public comment period, Prime Minister Mottley delivered a firm pledge that her government would deliver a permanent auditorium and amphitheater facility for St Philip during its current term, contingent on the island avoiding major natural disasters that would disrupt government budget priorities. “I give you a commitment that we will have a proper amphitheater auditorium-type facility for the people of St Philip that will happen in this term, God willing and God willing that there are no further natural disasters that will take us off track,” Mottley said.