THE seven People’s National Party (PNP) representatives who chair municipal corporations across the island have distanced themselves from their two Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) counterparts who have endorsed the Government’s beach access plan.

On Thursday the Jamaica Observer reported that chairman of two municipal corporations which cover Jamaica’s premier resort towns of Montego Bay and Ocho Rios, have reaffirmed their commitment to ensuring unrestricted beach access, supported by strong management practices to provide a safe, seamless, and enjoyable experience for both residents and visitors.

Chairman of the St James Municipal Corporation and Mayor of Montego Bay Richard Vernon and Mayor of St Ann’s Bay Michael Belnavis voiced strong support for recent statements in Parliament by Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness, reaffirming the Government’s commitment to public beach access and its plans to develop additional public beaches in the near future.

They further underscored that public access and sound management are not competing objectives but complementary pillars of Jamaica’s strategy to enhance coastal resilience, safeguard recreational spaces, and sustain the vitality of the tourism sector.

But in a mid-afternoon media statement the seven PNP mayors pointed out that they were not consulted on the Government’s beach access plan, do not support it, and reject the misleading impression created by the report published today with the headline “Mayors support Gov’t beach access plan”.

“The story… does not represent the majority of Jamaica’s elected mayors. It is a selective, Government-funded narrative dressed up as national consensus. The Jamaican public, at home and in the diaspora, deserves better,” the release said.

Locals and visitors regularly go for a weekend swim at the popular Dead End beach which has no entry fee.

According to the PNP, mayors Andrew Swaby (Kingston and St Andrew); Norman Scott (St Catherine); Donovan Mitchell (Manchester); Danree Delancy (Westmoreland); Sheridan Samuels (Hanover); Fitzroy Wilson (St Mary); and Leon Thomas (Portmore) were given no opportunity to review, discuss or respond to any beach access proposals before the story was published.

“Their voices, and the communities they represent, were entirely absent,” noted the statement.

It charged that unregulated coastal development, the erosion of public beach access, and the prioritisation of private and tourist interests over ordinary citizens are matters of direct consequence for working families and communities islandwide.

“We will not allow Government propaganda to manufacture a false consensus. We stand firmly for genuine, transparent and inclusive consultation on all matters affecting Jamaica’s coastline and its people,” said the PNP.