Court Keeps Little Dunn’s River Open Until Trial

An interim injunction has restored unrestricted public access to a contested stretch of St Ann coastline, and the case behind it could shape how Jamaica weighs long public use against formal land ownership.

OCHO RIOS, Jamaica, 9 October 2026, The public may once again use Little Dunn’s River in Ocho Rios without restriction after the St Ann’s Bay Parish Court granted an interim injunction against the Urban Development Corporation (UDC), the state entity that owns the site. The order, made on 1 October, bars the corporation from denying the public access to the beach, river, waterfalls and sea, and from blocking the nearby lands, roads, tracks and pathways people use to reach them, until the court rules on a lawsuit that has been running since 2023. The dispute is about one well-loved cove, but the legal question underneath it, whether decades of open use by a community can create rights over land that someone else holds title to, matters well beyond St Ann.

A long fight over a small cove

The claim was brought by the Jamaica Beach Birthright Environmental Movement (JaBBEM) and 10 individuals, a group the Gleaner described as including local residents and business operators at the site. They argue that they and the wider public have used the waterfalls, beachfront and surrounding paths for several decades without restriction, and that the public has acquired a permanent customary right to use the area freely. They are asking the court for declarations of permanent public access for bathing, fishing, recreation and commercial vending.

The UDC closed the property, which IRIE FM has identified as its Belmont Cove holding, in 2022 after a fatal shooting nearby, citing safety concerns and the need to develop the attraction. Access later resumed on Sundays only. Residents and advocacy groups called for a full reopening, lamenting the loss of what they said was the only free beach in the area, and JaBBEM says nearly four years of restrictions have damaged local livelihoods. According to the Gleaner, the injunction application itself was filed more than 15 months before it was granted. The matter returns to court on 30 November.

What each side argues

Marcus Goffe, the attorney for JaBBEM and the residents, told the Gleaner the order was “the right decision at this stage” and argued that the decades-long status quo should be preserved until all the legal issues are finally determined. The movement’s president, Dr Devon Taylor, has renewed his call for the Beach Control Act of 1956 to be repealed and replaced with modern legislation, and JaBBEM said in a statement that the existing law has failed to guarantee Jamaicans a general right of access to their own coastline.

The UDC’s lawyers, King’s Counsel Patrick Foster and Munroe Wisdom, called the decision wrong and said it would be appealed, the Gleaner reported. Their argument is that customary use can cover activities such as bathing and fishing, but does not entitle private individuals or commercial operators to put up unauthorised structures or run unregulated businesses on UDC land. In a statement, the corporation said it respects the authority of the court and has directed its team to facilitate access, while stressing that allowing people in is not the same as operating the property as a managed recreational facility. It said it is not currently able to provide day-to-day management such as security, lifeguards, sanitation or maintenance, and that it does not charge an entry fee and has not authorised anyone else to collect one.

Why landowners and developers should pay attention

For most buyers, ownership in Jamaica is understood through the registered title: the certificate, the boundaries and the survey plan. This case is a reminder that a title is not always the whole story. According to the Gleaner, the suit was brought under the Prescription Act, the law dealing with rights that can arise from long, open use, and the UDC’s counsel contends that the section the claimants relied on does not permit commercial activity. If the court ultimately accepts the claimants’ argument, even in part, it would underline a risk that coastal developers and lenders already know exists in principle: that land with a long history of public use can carry obligations a purchaser did not bargain for.

The UDC’s position draws a line that will matter whatever the outcome. Recognising a right to walk, bathe and fish is a very different thing from recognising a right to trade or build. Where the court places that line could influence how hotels, villa developers and public landowners approach sites that communities have treated as their own for generations, and how much legal due diligence those projects need before money is committed.

There is also a tension inside the State itself. The same corporation is preparing a master plan for Dunn’s River Falls and Park nearby, which the Jamaica Information Service reported in September would add attractions such as a zip line, a lazy river, cabins in the hills and a small amphitheatre, with a request for proposals already issued for the construction phase. Public bodies are being asked both to unlock the commercial value of the coastline and to protect the public’s place on it.

Shoreline, ownership and belonging

For many Jamaican families the coast is less a leisure product than a part of ordinary life, a place to swim, fish and earn a living. Campaigners argue that as more of the north coast is developed for tourism, the places where local people can simply arrive and use the sea are becoming harder to find. That helps explain why a dispute over one cove has drawn backing beyond St Ann, including from Jamaicans abroad, whom JaBBEM thanked publicly after the ruling.

What comes next

The injunction is temporary, and an appeal could change the position before the case is decided. The more lasting effects will come from the final judgment and from whether Parliament revisits the Beach Control Act, as campaigners want. For coastal landowners, investors and public agencies, the practical lesson is already clear: on Jamaica’s shoreline, the history of how land has been used can matter as much as who holds the paper, and planning for access early is likely to prove cheaper than defending against it later.

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