An Act to make provision for the orderly and progressive development of land in both urban and rural areas and to preserve and improve the amenities thereof, for the grant of permission to develop land and for other powers of control over the use of land, to confer additional powers in respect of the acquisition and development of land for planning, and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.
Town Planning Act, Chapter 240
Little has been discussed about the report under the headline 90-acre quarry for Arawak which was buried between the pages of today’s Nation newspaper. The report details a plan by Arawak Cement Plant to quarry for limestone in an area which stretches from Bromefield to Hannays. Of note should be the fact that the property was acquired from Fairfield Investments Limited in January 2007. The vociferous and hardworking Member of Parliament Denis Kellman has expressed concern at the development and stated that the land-use policy for that area was switched to industrial back in 1980.
More significantly was the fact that the Chief Town Planner when asked for comment was reported to have offered ‘no comment’.
Thanks to the help from BU family member X we have freely given our opinion concerning the haphazard development which has occurred on our West Coast. Based on recent utterances attributed to key tourism players which includes Minister Richard Sealy, it seems that plans are afoot to develop the North West coastline and stretching to the South East of Barbados. For some of us who have witnessed the carnage which continues unabated on the West Coast, the news of further concrete development has taken on a worrying significance.
Since it seems that the Nation newspaper did not apply the five Ws of journalism to the report BU was encouraged to continue where the news report left off.
The quote above was taken from the Town Planning Act, and the gist of it is to highlight that Town Planning department is responsible for “the orderly and progressive development of land in both urban and rural areas and to preserve and improve the amenities thereof, for the grant of permission to develop land and for other powers of control over the use of land.” It bothers the BU household that the Chief Town Planner, who at this final stage of the transaction should be seized with all the relevant information would refuse to comment to the Press about the Arawak transaction.
The Chief Town Planner is a public servant and disrespected the PEOPLE by not offering clarification to the media on the current development in the North of Barbados. What can the public read into the fact that Chief Town Planner Mark Cummins offered no comment? We believe it speaks loudly. It is no secret that the Town Planning Department is not shielded from the tentacles of the politicians. Several suspicious transactions have occurred over the years which would have enriched a few people.
A question we need to ask Member of Parliament for St. Lucy Denis Kellman would be: Do you care to expand on your comment as reported ‘this is something that was known to me and to the residents for a while. There was a town hall meeting on this issue, an environmental impact study was gone through, so it is nothing new’
What is your position Mr. Kellman?
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.