The name of former Town Planner Leonard St. Hill came up on another blog recently. He use to be a regular contributor to the talk shows and a frequent letter writer to the daily’s. Although we have seen a few sightings of his letters to the editor, his contributions to the talk shows have been very few and far between. BU wishes him well; his vast knowledge accumulated over many years as Chief Town Planner should be valuable at a time when Barbadians are seriously questioning government’s land use policy.

It is ironic that the Town Planning Department (TP) is charged under the laws of Barbados for the orderly and progressive development of land resources in Barbados yet suffers from a lack of resources. No wonder successive government can with impunity manipulate the ZONES at a whim even when it conflicts with the will of the people. A drive along the West Coast and to a lesser degree the South Coast should convince those who are not blinded by political affiliation – the disfigurement of our coastline is enough to make a grown man cry.

The undermanned Town Planning Department was placed under the microscope after the tragedy at Arch Hall, Britton’s Hill. The furore generated by that tragedy has abated and the reputation of Barbadians to perpetuate a 7 day wonder remains intact. Recently BU had reason to question an archaic practice of the TP Department. If a member of the public wants to inquire the status of public applications submitted for TP approval they have to scan a very thick register where the applications are recorded in long hand. It appears TP officers have access to the information in electronic format but they are very selective about sharing with the general public. Members of the public who demonstrate impatience at the 19th Century arrangement i.e. having to turn the several pages of a very thick register are directed  to a private individual. It appears from BU’s best research the private individual has taken the time to transfer the information from long hand to electronic format. Here is the catch, members of the public have to pay the private individual to gain access to the information. BU applauds the private individual for capitalizing on the opportunity which he has been presented. The issue for BU is the willingness of the TP officers to direct members of the public to a private citizen to access information which is public.

BU smells a rat!

This is a parasitic operation made possible by a lazy TP department to have its information digitized. Senator Orlando Marville who headed the committee which recommended the inputs to the draft Freedom of Information document did advise that there is a lot of preparatory work which is necessary to ensure the public’s expectation is satisfied.

The question to the Chief Town Planner – are you aware that members of the public are being diverted to Mr. Sober’s website to acquire information which your department should be providing? Needless to say this is a revenue opportunity which the TP department is missing out on. Are Many others benefiting?