Beach stays open

A judge has granted an injunction giving the public unrestricted access to Little Dunn’s River Beach in Ocho Rios, St Ann, until a lawsuit over access to the popular recreational area is decided.

The order was made in the St Ann’s Bay Parish Court yesterday following an application by lawyers for a group that includes a beach-rights lobby as well as local residents and business operators at the popular recreational spot.

The group has a pending lawsuit against the Urban Development Corporation (UDC), the Government entity that owns Little Dunn’s River, over access to the property.

However, the law firm representing the UDC believes that the decision to grant the injunction was “wrong” and has already signalled that there will be an appeal.

The injunction comes more than 15 months after the application was first filed by the group as part of its lawsuit against the UDC.

It bars the UDC from “depriving the public access to Little Dunn’s River and from blocking, obstructing, denying or depriving the plaintiffs and public’s access to adjoining and adjacent lands, roads, tracks and pathways used by the public to access the beach, river and waterfalls pending the final determination of the claim by the court”.

Marcus Goffe, the attorney for Jamaica Beach Birthright Environmental Movement (JABBEM) and the residents, believes that “it was the right decision at this stage” to grant the injunction.

He argued that while the full trial is still pending, the decades-long status quo at Little Dunn’s River “ought to be maintained”.

“Our point was that until or unless there is a full and final determination of all the legal issues, the UDC should not be allowed to be interfering, obstructing, blocking, preventing, or restricting the public’s access and enjoyment of that space,” Goffe told The Gleaner yesterday.

However, King’s Counsel Patrick Foster and Munroe Wisdom, from the law firm Nunes Scholefield DeLeon & Company, which represents the UDC, contend that the decision to grant the injunction failed to take into account the provisions of the Prescription Act, under which the lawsuit was filed.

Foster said the UDC anticipates that business operators will seek to resume their commercial activities at Little Dunn’s River though he contends that “such activities are not permissible under the section of the Prescription Act they relied upon in their application”.

“We indicated to the judge that we intend to appeal the decision to grant the injunction,” he said.

The case is scheduled to return to court on November 30.

JABBEM and the 10 individuals who filed the lawsuit against the UDC in 2023 are seeking to preserve their and the public’s right to access Little Dunn’s River, claiming that they have had access to the waterfalls, beachfront, and adjacent pathways “for several decades without restrictions”.

They contend that as a result, the public has obtained “a permanent customary right” to use the beach freely and have asked the court to grant declarations giving them permanent public access for commercial vending, bathing, fishing, and recreation.

However, the UDC argues that the law surrounding “customary use” is meant to grant recreational access for activities such as bathing and fishing.

The Government agency contends that the law does not grant private individuals or commercial operators the legal authority to erect unauthorised physical structures or conduct unregulated commercial activity on its property.

livern.barrett@gleanerjm.com