The stakeholder engagement process for the #Future Barbuda Development plan was extensive, inclusive, and multifaceted. It brought together voices from all corners of the community, ensuring a holistic and representative blueprint for the island’s future. Over 400 individuals, representing a spectrum of groups, provided invaluable insights and feedback.
These engagements took the form of numerous conversations with Barbudan stakeholders, not just limited to the islands of Barbuda, but also extending to the Barbudan Diaspora. Diversity was a hallmark of these consultations. Participants spanned multiple generations, backgrounds, professions, experiences, and geographies. This broad representation ensured that the discussions were comprehensive, addressing challenges, frustrations, needs, and aspirations of the Barbudan community.
The vision considers the island’s unique strengths, historical context, and the impact of recent events like hurricanes and the global pandemic. This integrated approach aims to ensure the welfare of the community, protect natural resources, and enhance the resilience of the island’s infrastructure and public services. Through collaboration with the community, a collective vision for the future of Barbuda has been established.
The Plan considers the physical, economic, social, ecological and cultural attributes of the island and optimises its layout, flows, function, structures and critical infrastructure to create a platform that is resilient from a climate and economic perspective which stimulates growth and fosters community renewal.
The Plan employs an integrated approach which aims to ensure the welfare of the community, protect natural resources, and enhance the resilience of the island’s infrastructure and public services. Through collaboration with the community, a collective vision for the future of Barbuda has been established.
Presently, there is no strategic guidance in place to manage and control the pace of development throughout the island. This has resulted in a fragmented approach to decision making which is often based on speculative actions. It is the intent that The Plan be implemented in a phased manner which facilitates an evolutionary, step-change approach to the island’s development based on critical needs and predicted development trends. New development will be required to adhere to the plan’s policies and land use designations.
The Plan guides the fundamental aspects of development plan-making, resilience-enabling and landscape-developing to ensure that development interventions are aligned with broad community values, goals, and aspirations.
