Barbudans risk losing thousands of acres of communal land if they accept the government’s offer of one-dollar freehold titles, Barbuda Council chairman John Mussington claims, during a community legal awareness meeting last night.

Pointing to clauses in major development leases that he says convert leasehold land to permanent private ownership the moment freehold becomes available on the island, Mussington addressed what he says are weeks of escalating pressure from the central government administration over land rights on the island.

“Once you put that pen to paper, you are giving away thousands of acres of Barbuda’s land,” Mussington told residents, describing the freehold scheme as a trigger mechanism rather than a benefit.

He cited the Paradise Found project’s 198-year lease over 550 acres of shorefront land, which he said carries a clause guaranteeing automatic conversion to freehold once title becomes generally available, at no cost beyond rent already paid.

Mussington told the meeting that a similar clause also appears in a 987-acre lease in the Bravina Bay area.

He said plans tied to that lease include dredging a channel through offshore reef and excavating Barbuda’s main salt pond to a depth of up to 40 feet to create a mega-yacht marina, which he warned could destroy the island’s freshwater supply.

“If you’re going to be digging down to 40 feet, letting salt water in, you know what you’re doing to Barbuda, because essentially that entire freshwater lens will be exchanged for seawater,” he said, adding that the lease, in the council’s view, “was fraudulently issued” and needs to be challenged.

Mussington rejected government claims that the Barbuda Council has no legal authority over land, insisting that the Barbuda Local Government Act of 1976 remains in full force regardless of the 2018 repeal of the separate Barbuda Land Act.

“That law cannot be unilaterally repealed by a majority in parliament, and that is what the protection is all about in the constitution,” he said, citing Section 123, which he said requires Barbudan consent for any change to the local government act.

KC Leslie Thomas advised Barbudans to preserve any documentation of land use and to photograph fragile original papers rather than discard them.

He said grazing rights and long-standing use of land survive the repeal of the Barbuda Land Act, but cautioned that “evidence is what turns a right into something that the court can recognise.”

He also urged residents not to sign any land-related document without first understanding it and taking advice, and not to discuss live legal arguments on social media while cases remain before the courts.

Mussington said the council intends to continue engaging the public, including the Barbudan diaspora, and plans to release findings from a recent community survey at a future meeting.

“We will not accept what is happening, and we will not sit idly by and allow it to happen,” he said.