The Anglican Church is examining a comprehensive development of its land bank.
And soon to come on stream will be a commercial project on the outskirts of Bridgetown which will benefit the medical and tourism industries.
Adrian Elcock, Chairman of the Board of Barbados Diocesan Trustees made this disclosure yesterday and revealed some of the projects which the church has already undertaken with its land assets.
Elcock was contacted by this newspaper following the passing of a resolution in the Senate on Wednesday for Government to sell land at the Bath St John to the Wesleyan Holiness Church for $28 000.
The Anglican Church had said the land was vested in the trustees and had even threatened a lawsuit if Government refused to meet with them on the matter.
Elcock said that it was never the church’s intention to deprive another church of the land at Bath and so he said the passing of the resolution would not interfere with the church’s negotiations with Government.
“It’s still a discussion with the ministry. We had one meeting and we continue to have some discussions on options. I don’t think we would be in a position where we would want to stop the other church from moving forward but there still would have to be some issue of discussion between us aAnd in relation to criticisms levelled at the church by Anglican priest and Government Senator, Reverend Charles Morris, who charged that the church had left too many of its properties in a state of abandonment and should give land to Barbadians as reparations, Elcock said the church had been disposing of land for years to citizens.
“Where he (Morris) deliberately chooses to ignore, a lot of our land is in Glebe, St George and as you know, the Glebes are part of the . . . tenancy programme . . . where we have been converting those lands to the tenants for significantly subsidised amounts in collaboration with the Government.
“And then a lot of it is in what we would call the curtilage of the churches. So each church has from one to two acres associated with it, which obviously cannot be just developed like that. It’s part of the church usage. So when you subtract that out and you take whatever is to be developed, what we’ve been doing is renovating rectories that had gotten into a state of disrepair. So we have a few plans that we have started developing for that.”
He said most of those lands were sold for as little as $5 per square foot.
“So when you take in the amount the government would pay and what we give, they’ve transferred a nominal amount to the tenant. Now, many tenants sometimes don’t take us up on it, and we continue to have to deal with it in the Glebe, but there are others that have been able to become
bona fide landowners through the support of the Anglican Church.”
Mixed-use facility
In terms of the commercial projects, Elcock said the Church had two main commercial sites including one in Collymore Rock, St Michael, which was “under active design right now”.
“That will be at least a $10 million project that we’re hoping to roll out early next year. What I will say is that it is on the Mandeville site in Collymore Rock. It’s a 2.8 acre site, one of the largest sites on the outskirts of Bridgetown. And we’re looking at a mixed-use facility that will benefit housing, tourism and medicine at the same time. So it will be a multi-story development that we’re looking at putting up.”
He also revealed that the church had sold one large parcel of land and had also developed housing spots for middle income communities. In addition, he referenced investments in solar photovoltaic projects in St Andrew and St Philip.
Noting that over the years, Barbadians had benefited from the Anglican Church through the Tenantries Freehold Purchase Act, Elcock stated: “There is prevailing belief that the Anglican Church doesn’t deserve anything because of our land being derived through the plantocracy. But regardless of how it’s derived, it’s how do we put it to use for the benefit of Barbadians? And the Anglican Church has invested more in the social development of Barbados than many other organisations.
“All of us in my age group have benefited from schools. . . . Most of the schools of that era were church properties. And to this day, we still rent the Ministry of Education properties to support the educational system of Barbados.”
In relation to Reverend Morris’ criticisms, Elcock stated: “I’m disappointed that he continues to be disparaging in his remarks about the Anglican Diocese of Barbados. And it would be more instructive if he brings whatever ideas he has to the Trustees and present those. And we will consider as we consider all development proposals that come before us. But in the interim, our focus has been trying to save some rectories that have fallen into disrepair. We are trying to restore some of the churches. (MB)
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