The ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has labeled as a “farce” the Opposition People’s National Party’s promise of greater access to beaches for Jamaicans if it forms the next government after the September 3 General Election.

The JLP has instead proposed introducing a Beach Access Policy in the next Parliament, should it win the upcoming election, which it said would ensure citizens have greater access to the country’s beaches.

Jamaicans have often complained about the limited access to beaches, so it was not surprising that the issue was raised through a question posed to the three-member PNP debate team at the election debates on Saturday night.

In responding for the PNP, Sophia Frazer-Binns posited that under the nine years of the JLP administration, “there have been countless situations” relative to Jamaicans having difficulties accessing beaches, pointing to two popular beaches as examples.

The People’s National Party’s Sophia Frazer-Binns responds to a question during the social issues election debate on Saturday, August 23, 2025.

“For us in the People’s National Party, access to beach[es] is not an option; it is the right, and because of that, we will ensure that all Jamaicans have access to our beaches,” Frazer-Binns declared.

“We have done it before. In our [the PNP’s] last administration, we spent over $12 billion rehabilitating Winnifred Beach [in Portland], Priory Beach [in St Ann]. We’ve done it already, we gonna do it again,” she pledged.

Furthermore, Frazer-Binns said a new PNP-led administration will “ensure that the provisions in the Beach Access Act come to life, and where the amendment needs to be made, we’re gonna do that.”

She also committed to a new PNP government working with its tourism partners as well as its private investors, to ensure that they understand that access to beaches is “a right for all Jamaican[s]”.

Additionally, Frazer-Binns assured the rehabilitation of beaches will be a priority.

“For the People’s National Party, access to our beaches is not just something you do, it is a matter of justice, and it is a right, and we commit that we will have access to beaches [under a new PNP government],” she responded further.

The Jamaica Labour Party’s Matthew Samuda responds to a question during the social issues election debate on Saturday, August 23, 2025.

It was no surprise, however, that the minister with responsibility for the environment, Matthew Samuda, rebutted Frazer-Binns’ position.

He poured the proverbial cold water on the PNP’s commitments relative to the issue, underscoring that there was currently no Beach Access Act currently in place as suggested by Frazer-Binns.

“The people of St James know that all that was just said is a farce. When the People’s National Party took away Cornwall Beach from the people of St James, they did so without a care in the world,” Samuda argued.

He pointed out that the JLP administration built the Harmony Beach Park in Montego Bay “to give the people of St James back Beach access”.

“It is this administration that will genuinely renovate the Priory Beach in St Ann; I’m not sure what was referred to [by Frazer-Binns] was a renovation, because that’s a joke,” Samuda opined.

He said the Pagee Beach, located in Port Maria, St Mary, as well as the Boston Bay Beach in Portland, will be “returned to the people of Jamaica” under the JLP’s stewardship.

“There isn’t a Beach Access Act as was mentioned, but there is the Beach Control Act. This [JLP] administration will indeed, at the first sitting of the new Parliament, table the Beach Access Policy, which will guarantee windows to the sea being maintained, corridors to the sea being a facet of development approvals as we have recently done through NEPA (National Environment and Planning Agency) with hotel approvals in Trelawny and Negril (in Hanover), where there are corridors built by the hotels to facilitate access for citizens,” Samuda explained.

Underscoring that a policy is important, the minister stressed that “beach access cannot just be words”.

“It has to be investment in beaches like the Harmony Beach Park. It has to be corridors to the sea as we have indeed insisted upon through our approval process through NEPA in Trelawny, in Negril [in Hanover], and more to come,” Samuda stated.