Privacy
Although the land on the island is entirely privately owned, under British Virgin Islands law, all beaches up to the high water mark are Crown land, and are open to the public. In practice, the security personnel which accompany guests to Necker Island are known for making it difficult for ordinary members of the public to enjoy the beaches, particularly when high profile guests are in residence. On one of the occasions when Diana, Princess of Wales stayed at the resort, security personnel kept a 150 metre perimeter around the island, within which the public were excluded.
When the island was being purchased, environmentalists expressed concerns that Necker Island was one of the relatively few places in the world that a rare species of gecko, the Virgin Islands dwarf gecko, lives and breeds. When Branson was granted an alien land-holder's licence to enable him to purchase the island, it was made conditional upon Branson's agreement that any legitimate scientific expedition to study the geckos should have full and unfettered access to the island.
Richard Branson's official residency and tax status is reliant on his declaration that he lives on this island.
Read more about this topic: Necker Island (British Virgin Islands)
Famous quotes containing the word privacy:
“Far from being the basis of the good society, the family, with its narrow privacy and tawdry secrets, is the source of all our discontents.”
—Sir Edmund Leach (20th century)
“Isn’t privacy about keeping taboos in their place?”
—Kate Millet (b. 1934)
“The East is the hearthside of America. Like any home, therefore, it has the defects of its virtues. Because it is a long-lived-in house, it bursts its seams, is inconvenient, needs constant refurbishing. And some of the family resources have been spent. To attain the privacy that grown-up people find so desirable, Easterners live a harder life than people elsewhere. Today it is we and not the frontiersman who must be rugged to survive.”
—Phyllis McGinley (1905–1978)