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:
“You may well ask how I expect to assert my privacy by resorting to the outrageous publicity of being one’s actual self on paper. There’s a possibility of it working if one chooses the terms, to wit: outshouting image-gimmick America through a quietly desperate search for self.”
—Kate Millett (b. 1934)
“... privacy is ... connected to a politics of domination.”
—bell hooks (b. 1955)
“The emphasis must be not on the right to abortion but on the right to privacy and reproductive control.”
—Ruth Bader Ginsberg (b. 1933)