La Sagesse beach under threat again!
This article was posted in the January 30th 2026 edition of the New Today Newspaper. Submitted by the Grenada Land Actors and the La Sagesse Community group.
It continues to be heartbreaking to see the damage being carried out to our beloved La Sagesse beach. Range Development is on phase two and three of construction at that beach presently and the Six Senses buildings, the first phase, seems to be finished. Now they are on to the Intercontinental Hotel development and the La Sagesse Collection.
La Sagesse was a natural mangrove forest and salt pond: the forest was destroyed by this development in 2019. The site surrounding the pond was one of the most important birding sites on the island - especially for overwintering bird species. Numerous bird records were collected by locals and tourists alike. The salt pond was dredged (scraping and scooping plant life etc. from the bottom of the pond) and flooded in order to create the artificial entrance at the bottom of the main beach. A part of the main beach was permanently destroyed to accommodate this. The La Sagesse community group informed Grenada Land Actors on Monday 26th January that machines were working again, digging a trench on the beach in front of the proposed Intercontinental Hotel. The developers seem to be putting more stones on the beach. They expressed alarm at this action since it appears to be contravening the determined high water mark, where construction is forbidden by law. The group has made several requests to the Planning and Development Authority to monitor what is happening on La Sagesse but very little action seems to have been taken by the Authority. The group, along with Grenada Land Actors have spoken about: .How local people have not been allowed to cross over to the smaller beach on the other side of the headland, the beach known as Lance Pierre. ·The need to remove the stones placed on the beach in front of the Six Senses resort which is causing algae blooms. ·The lack of assessments of documented archaeological sites close to where the Intercontinental is being built. ·
The restoration of mangroves in the area as the developers were required to do by the Government. How the resort is supplied with water considering that it has 52 individual pool suites and many residents in the surrounding area are now complaining of water shortages. Once again, we are calling on the Planning Authority to ensure that developers adhere to recommendations and conditions delivered when planning permission is approved. They have been informed of what is happening, we are hoping for a positive outcome.
We continue to lament the destruction wreaked on our precious mangroves across the island with plans recently being approved to destroy the mangrove in Woodford Bay. It is becoming a regular occurrence to be invited to another consultation to discuss policies in relation to the environment and sustainable development, however all we seem to do is talk, in this time of critical climate change, we need a lot more action.