Such has been the continuing high level of concern that Chief Minister and Minister of Lands, Osbourne Fleming, has sought to allay fears, indicating that the situation is not as bad as it appears.

“There have been some concerns, Mr. Speaker, in Anguilla regarding the alienation of land and, as Minister of Lands, I want for the record from this Chamber to let the people know the position as it stands,” he said. He was at the time addressing the House of Assembly on May 8.

He reported the following:
“The Crown lands in Anguilla total 1,514 acres. The total number of acres of land alienated are 833, accounting for 4.6% of all the land in Anguilla.

“There is a lot of talk about the Government giving away all the land, but I thought it would be nice to let the people know that we have alienated to date 833 acres and that includes [land for] hotels, residencies, etc.

Government has 1,500 acres of land of which we have leased 511 acres.”

Oppostion Member Hubert Hughes

Opposition Member, Hubert Hughes, called for the Chief Minister to present a motion in the House of Assembly as soon as possible to deal with more matters of state. He was specifically referring to what he stated “was the fundamental issue of land” which should be debated in the House.

“We need to get a clear picture as to what is happening to our land and whether a halt should be instituted immediately in-so-far as further alienation is concerned,” Mr. Hughes added.

“We have quite a few developers in Anguilla and these developers are to my mind very financial. We have quite a few hotels already established in Anguilla and I think we should concentrate on those hotels and allow them to develop properly. We should force them in a situation where they live up to the conditions by which they received their alien landholding licences and expand, rather than opening up Anguilla to more new development. I don’t think it is requisite and I think our land is key to our revenue base.”

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