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Constant Plantation land approved for housing by government

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On May 6, 2014 the BU family discussed the ‘tearing’ up of prime agriculture land located at Lower Greys in the St. George Valley. It was a sacrilegious act to ‘plant’ concrete at that location. The decision was made under a Democratic Labour Party (DLP) government by then Minister of Housing Michael Lashley. At that time the then Barbados Labour Party (BLP) was silent.

First they came to Mount Wilton,and cut up prime agricultural land to put big houses on. I did not live anywhere near Mount Wilton so I rocked back and did nothing. Next they came to Castle Grant, and cut up prime agricultural land to put big houses on. I did not live near Castle Grant, so I sat back and did nothing. Then they came to Lower Grays, where I live, to cut up prime agricultural land to put big houses on………………………………….. Still those people who are living on top of the hill, in the tenantry, on prime residential land, overlooking the picturesque St George Valley, are lucky not to be removed, like they did the people in 40 Acres in St Thomas some years ago.

–the late Colonel Buggy

Fast forward to November 14, 2024, a decade later under a BLP government and nothing has changed, more land in the agriculture heartland of Barbados is approved for planting of concrete, this time at Constant in St. George. This time the DLP is silent.

By the way, do you recall the CLICO houses that were allowed to go derelict a few metres to the north of the land earmarked for sale?

A sign that should be offensive to any Barbadian is erected for all to see. Two signs were erected but the ‘gods’ saw it fit to blow down one. This is a call for that space to be preserved for productive purposes. There comes a time when enough is enough.

If there are two indicators Barbadians should take note of as we gear up for Independence Day celebrations:

  1. the crazy number of vehicles on the roads, well over 120,000
  2. the number of buildings both private and commercial littering our fields and hill

The look and feel of our island is being changed quickly and surely by an incompetent political class we have slaved to educate. We spend hours on the road attempting to travel a couple miles on a 21×14 island. As the late Reverend Hatch warned, our windows to the sea are all but a few. What the hell are we doing?

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106 responses to “Constant Plantation land approved for housing by government”

  1. Samuel S. Shank Avatar
    Samuel S. Shank

    What do you explect from a PM who spends her life travelling and minding other people’s business instead of doing the job she is paid to do? Borrowing money that our great grand children will have to pay back long aster she is gone.

  2. John Avatar
    John

    The more vehicles on the road the more tax is collected by the GOB.

    The more house lots on agricultural land the more tax is collected by the GOB.

    The more tax that is collected the more $$$ there is to spend.

    …. and teef.

  3. John Avatar
    John

    ….. and even after all that tax $$$$$$$, the GOB still got to borrow more $$$$$$$$$.

    Teefing.

  4. David Avatar
    David

    Many Barbadians have just finished the crop over jump up and now Christmas beacons. Soon after will be #wegatherin.

    What did Bobby Mcferrin advise?

  5. John Avatar
    John

    … and that, members of BU, explains why Kingsland happened.

    Amazed at the lengths to which the Executive Branch through its various agents went to so as to gain control of the more than 1,000 acres of land.

    Hopefully it will resolve itself soon.

  6. David Avatar
    David

    @John

    The difference in the transactions is that your family was split on the sale but the Robinsons have no similar issue?

  7. Roslyn Avatar
    Roslyn

    Used to take the route from Salters to roundabout leading to Dash Valley to start de-stressing from work. It’s empty of houses & lush with vegetation. Traffic is also relatively easy on this route. Now this!! Lord help us.

  8. John Avatar
    John

    Wrong David.

    You never understood what the problem was.

    All had to sell, or none could sell.

    One could buy and that’s what my family tried.

    There should have been no split, it was an easy transaction!!

    Business!!

    Turns out after all that litigation that all of the lands of Kingsland are encumbered and any dealings in them is fraud.

    So, Kooyman is on encumbered land!!

    Some of the older attorneys at law actually warned off their clients from even considering a purchase of Kingsland lands.

    The title is clouded!!

    Constant Estates Ltd. was formed in the exact same way as Kingsland Estates Limited.

    … and it isn’t only the Robinson family involved!!

    Ditto Todds!!!

    They were all formed by “those old conveyancers who did not make mistakes” so bare problems now!!

  9. John Avatar
    John

    It isn’t only Kooyman!!

    There are over 400 Bajans occupying land the title of which is clouded.

    …. then there are the mortgage lenders and banks who financed the fraud!!

  10. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @David
    I don’t know the Robinsons, other than one is(was) a dentist here in Canada.
    However, a nearby property had land expropriated via eminent domain, a few years back, and still no payment. It was only lands acquired prior to 2018 which got J Bonds.
    Also while like the Deane’s, we tend to associate ownership with a single family name, the actual owners may be far and wide via both marriage and emigration; and have been for a few generations. In other words, the local agriculturalists vs others, likely not local, and with a waning attachment to Bim.
    Hence a natural decision (after much infighting) will be to sell land privately to get cash, before you a) lose it to compulsory acquisition b) zoning laws change or c) you cannot get money out. Land doesn’t provide cash flow unless you work it, and do so profitably.

  11. John Avatar
    John

    Ernest Stanley Robinson bought Constant Plantation out of Chancery in the early 1900’s and operated it as a sole proprietor until WWII when he conveyed it into Constant Estates Limited. He gave shares to his wife and children, including one who was living in Canada. The lands were conveyed under certain terms which effectively made Constant Estates Limited a trust.

    FIRST PART CONSTANT ESTATES LIMITED a Company, incorporated under the-Companies Act 1910 of the said Island and having its registered office at Lucas Street in the City of Bridgetown and Island aforesaid (hereinafter called “the Company”) of the’ SECOND PART ANNIE CAMERON ROBINSON of the said parish of Saint George and Island aforesaid, Married Woman, of the THIRD PART IAN STANLEY ROBINSON of the said parish of Saint George and Island aforesaid, Planter, of the FOURTH PART ROSEMARY DIANA YUNG of the Dominion of Canada, Married Woman, acting herein by the said Ernest Stanley Robinson one of her constituted Attorneys on record in the said Island, of the FIFTH PART HENRY AUGUSTUS CHARLES THOMAS of the parish
    o£ Christ Church, Company Manager, and the said IAN STANLEY ROBINSON, both of the said Island of Barbados, of the SIXTH PART and the said HENRY AUGUSTUS CHARLES THOMAS of the SEVENTH PART

  12. John Avatar
    John

    Portland and Alleynedale Estates Limited was another such example.

    Chandlers, but with families around the world, from South Africa to Canada.

    Boils down to the terms under which the land was conveyed!!!

  13. David Avatar
    David

    @NO

    What a mess. One big mess.

  14. David Avatar
    David

    @John

    Has the court ruled fraud? No!

  15. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    David
    Since you have mentioned it frequently, even a relatively minor issue like #rasholepotholes some of which resemble #craters cannot be solved.
    All de money and two trucks with marl to fill, cold mix to cover, and a small tamping machine cannot be found.
    Meanwhile traffic slows to a near halt in daylight to navigate them, and untold damage at night when drivers don’t know where they are.

  16. John Avatar
    John

    Don’t need a ruling from the court!!!

    The land is in limbo.

    An attorney at law involved in any land transaction must do his/her due diligence and make a title search.

    Those who claim to hold the land are stuck!

    Some attorneys at law knew from ever since and told their clients forget Kingsland land!!

    If anything, the court has convicted itself of fraud!!

    The Judicial Branch was used as a tool of the Executive Branch.

    What is the result of the appearance of a violation of the principle of Separation of Powers?

    Any resulting action can be made void!!

  17. John Avatar
    John

    …. and then there is the recent case law, Takhar v. Gracefields, “fraud unravels all”

  18. John Avatar
    John

    This is a billion dollar land fraud in which sam cow and de duppy are involved!!

  19. John Avatar
    John

    CLICO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  20. David Avatar
    David

    @NO

    Perplexing is the large potholes and trenches located on some of our most traversed roads, Worthing, Bridgetown, Hinds Hill. One is left dumbfounded if decision makers travel by helicopter to move around the island.

  21. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @John
    Was your late mother’s signature provided fraudulently on documents?

  22. John Avatar
    John

    Which documents are you talking about?

    A better question would be, were any documents presented to her for her signature the result of fraud?

    If so, “fraud unravels all”!!

    They would be void.

    Takhar v. Gracefields, 2019

  23. John Avatar
    John

    Even if my mother was provided with documents to sign and her lawyers did all their due diligence, if it turned out that the documents arose as a result of fraud, she or rather her estate could apply to have any decision based on those documents set aside!!

    “Fraud unravels all”

    …. or

    “A knave does not escape liability because he is dealing with a fool”.

  24. John Avatar
    John

    What were the terms under which she and her fellow tenants in common conveyed the land to Kingsland?

    That’s the question to answer!!

    During and after WWII, sugar demand and prices shot up.

    It made sense to form LLC’s because of the profits generated and the liabilities incurred to improve production and produce more.

    My grandfather purchased his first plantation as a sole proprietor in 1939. By 1948 he had paid off his mortgage and bought a second one.

    He transferred both into a tenancy in common with 9 equal tenants in common in 1948/9.

    In 1958 the 9 equal tenants in common formed Kingsland Estates Limited and conveyed their 1,133 acres of land for shares AND on terms specified in the 1958 indenture.

    Obviously, whatever rights they had as tenants in common were largely preserved by the terms under which the conveyance took place.

    Even more obviously, any dealing in the land would have to recognise those terms, UNLESS Kingsland, its undertaking, property and assets were released from any claim or demand the former tenants in common, their heirs or assigns might have.

  25. John Avatar
    John

    NorthernObserver
    November 14, 2024 at 11:17 am
    Rate This

    @David
    I don’t know the Robinsons, other than one is(was) a dentist here in Canada.
    However, a nearby property had land expropriated via eminent domain, a few years back, and still no payment. It was only lands acquired prior to 2018 which got J Bonds.
    Also while like the Deane’s, we tend to associate ownership with a single family name, the actual owners may be far and wide via both marriage and emigration; and have been for a few generations. In other words, the local agriculturalists vs others, likely not local, and with a waning attachment to Bim.
    Hence a natural decision (after much infighting) will be to sell land privately to get cash, before you a) lose it to compulsory acquisition b) zoning laws change or c) you cannot get money out. Land doesn’t provide cash flow unless you work it, and do so profitably.

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    How many Yungs do you know in Canada?

    I am not a lawyer but it seems to me that if I were, the first thing I would want to know is what happened to ALL of the shares in Constant, and under what sorts of terms Constant Estates Limited owned its land.

    Does it have marketable title?

    Can the GOB acquire land from an owner who has legal and beneficial title but no marketable title?

    Can the GOB after acquisition, then sell house lots on the land and will the purchasers have marketable title which they can sell on?

    Sounds like a right royal mess in the making if proper due diligence has not been done.

    The only way I reckon GOB would put its neck in that noose is if there were no issues with marketable title or if it set aside the constitution.

    I got another question!!!

    What happens when all the money is spent on Hyatt Hotel and Ms. Ram’s children and grandchildren appear with a document showing the land is encumbered to them?

  26. David Avatar
    David

    Is the government purchasing the land or the owners of Constant received permission to dispose of it.

  27. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Barbados royalty.

    https://nationnews.com/2024/11/14/pope-francis-meets-prime-minister-of-barbados/

  28. John Avatar
    John

  29. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    Can the GOB acquire land from an owner who has legal and beneficial title but no marketable title.

    Setting aside GoB, how can anybody know that legal title isn’t marketable?

    So the GoB, via Clearwater Bay Limited, acquires ownership (title) to lands at Paradise, via a collateral on loan default clause. At least, the land registry says so. The said lands are then sold to one Pharliciple, the land registry says so, and yet the AudGen says no consideration was received !!! Hence the subsequent sale from Pharliciple to Blue Development is null and void?

    The legal documents for any such sale are only stamped to show the GoB, or its agency, received the fees/taxes/duties applicable on the sale. It doesn’t say that the funds from the transacting parties have been duly paid and received? Isn’t that how some lawyers teef money.

    Ditto for Compulsory Acquisition. When the GoB acquires land, then erects improvements, and seeks to transfer title of these improved lands, while still not having paid for the lands acquired, is that title marketable? How would a buyer’s lawyer know that?

    A little birdie told me the IMF understood this. Hence J Bonds. That passes the legal sniff test for payment, even though the seller has received less than a standard deposit in early years.

  30. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @David
    John is back to Kingsland. When did his side place a lien? Or any other mechanism which would indicate to the legal fraternity, beyond internal company by laws, the title was not marketable.

  31. John Avatar
    John

    David
    November 14, 2024 at 1:29 pm
    Rate This

    Is the government purchasing the land or the owners of Constant received permission to dispose of it.

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    The agreement under which Constant Estates Limited was formed has this clause:

    “As to the residue of the consideration for the said sale, the Company shall undertake to pay, satisfy, discharge, and fulfil all the debts, liabilities, contracts, and engagements of the vendor in relation to the said Plantations and hereditaments as from the said First day of July one thousand nine hundred and fifty one, and shall indemnify him against all proceedings, claims and demands in respect thereof ;”

    If the owners of Constant Estates Limited also own an interest in this undertaking and associated indemnification AND it has been triggered, then they would have to give permission to the directors of Constant Estates Limited to dispose of any lands of Constant.

    How would the owners of the company incur a debt liability contract or engagement in relation to the Plantation?

    …… figure it out.

    It is like a poison pill the old conveyancers put in to prevent fraud and theft of their clients’ land by the company.

  32. David Avatar
    David

    In these matters a search with land registry is the arbiter?

  33. John Avatar
    John

    It should be once you intend to follow what is written.

    But if not, you are buying or selling a piece of land on which there may be an encumbrance.

    Some hungry lawyers may take the risk or just not know what the document is saying.

    More experienced attorneys will pursue what they read and will not allow their clients to be prejudiced in the future.

  34. David Avatar
    David

    @John

    Isn’t there a role the financial institution plays by validating the search before money changes hands?

  35. John Avatar
    John

    Yup!!

    But remember, the financial institution is lending its depositors money which it only has because it has promised them certain returns on their money.

    Getting the money out ensures it can earn that interest.

    The question arises for that side of the equation, what is an acceptable risk and how fast can it recoup its depositors money if it gets the decision to lend wrong?

    The financial institution will do its own financial due diligence but remember, same pool of lawyers involved whether they are hungry, risk takers or downright criminal.

    You can safely bet that the old fuddy duddies won’t get much work with them.

    In Kingsland’s case, the loans were made 2005/6 and then they got their asses sued in Canada by Nelson in early 2007 and had to get back their money fast!!

    Head office was coming down to investigate!!

    You should have seen the scrambling.

    It is all in the filed documents in the Land Registry, if you know how to read them!!

  36. John Avatar
    John

    Ownership changed, names changed and folks tried their best to distance themselves.

  37. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    The challenge is until recently, many of these local private companies acted as their own Corporate Secretary. They only contracted an outside party in times of dispute. And frequently it was different from the legal beagle who drafted the initial documents/laws, even if still alive.
    One example I came across. The famous line John quotes that ALL shareholders must agree or none agree, appears often. The late Mr.Armstrong the author, acted on behalf of many.
    And yet, in a case where there were five equal shareholders, only 4 of 5 were Directors, and the Bank documents only required two of the five signatures on file, for transactions under $100,000 and only three over that amount.
    Immediately you can see where problems can occur.
    How is an outside party to know, that in event of a sale, whether in whole or in part, ALL 5 signatures are required? The Directors are entrusted with representing shareholders, and in most cases unless otherwise specified, 50+1% represent a majority. Can the Directors not bind a Company?
    As such, should the 4 Directors in my example have all voted in favour of a sale, how is a buyer to know the corporate by laws, require all 5 owners to agree? And that the disagreement by one, represents the disagreement of all?

  38. David Avatar
    David

    @John

    You comment about the financial institution’s role is illogical, has nothing to do with risk and more to do with procedure.

  39. John Avatar
    John

    Easy peasy japaneasy!!

    Read the terms under which the company owns its property and assets and look for the releases of those terms in the land Registry.

    No releases means caveat emptor!!

    Kingsland like many other companies in Barbados is a Trust, not just a company owned by shareholders.

    A search of the Land Registry would also reveal Memoranda of deposits of title deeds and the parties affected.

    Getting 86% of the shareholding is useless if the encumbered property and assets need to be mortgaged to finance the purchase of those shares and there are no releases.

    Kingsland does not have marketable title to the property and assets it owns.

    The litigation to the Privy Council was a farce, made so because that simple point was withheld from the Court through deceit.

    The question is who would finance the Judicial Branch to hear such crap over 26 years?

    Answer ….. the Executive Branch using taxpayer money.

    Why?

    Because the Executive Branch imagined it could use the Kingsland project to attract $800 million USD in investment!!

    That was project # 102!!

    All the imagined projects are in the 2003 Projects List that was available at the British High Commission.

    Go check the 0ctober 17 200 House Debates to see how the Executive Branch was thinking.

    The only sane person in the House was Dennis St. Elmo Kellman!!

  40. John Avatar
    John

    Check this, search on golf.

    https://www.barbadosparliament.com/htmlarea/uploaded/File/Debates/House%20October%2017%202000.pdf

    SPEAKERS IN THIS ISSUE
    CLARKE, Hon. Mr. G. A. (St. George North)
    GILL, Hon. Mr. D. T. (St. Michael South Central)
    KELLMAN, Mr. D. St. E. (St. Lucy)
    MILLER, Hon. Miss B. A. (City of Bridgetown)
    MOTTLEY, Hon. Miss M. A. (St. Michael North East)
    St. JOHN, Hon. Sir Harold (Christ Church South)
    SIMMONS, Hon. D. A. C. (St. Thomas)
    THOMPSON, Mr. D. J. H. (St. John)
    WILLIAMS, Mr. M. Z. (St. Michael North West

  41. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @David “…the crazy number of vehicles on the roads, well over 120,000…”

    Yet when I comment on the foolishness of “everyone should have a vehicle at the door”, the Bright BU Boys make sport of me the ZR woman who has not owned a vehicle for more that 25 years. And I get around fine, thank you.

    Barbados “missed the bus” when it FAILED to develop a robust tax funded public transportation system. And when it failed to develop the embryonic public transportation system that had long been in existence.

    But let the Bright Boys of BU and their political acolytes make sport.

    We all reap the consequences of our actions. Good actions and bad actions, and especially foolish actions.

  42. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    Cars weren’t designed for sitting and waiting in traffic jams and gridlocks.
    Rich people should consider selling their expensive sport car collections due to their pothole woes.

    Regarding the Knox plantations land saga, it should viewed as humour as it is quite funny. The rich will always mourn about the money they should have got instead of rejoicing in what they have got.
    But, Who cares?

    Onion (satirical website) buys Infowars (conspiracy theory website) as part of a Court ordered bankruptcy auction sale from Sandyhook Conspiracy Theory Rulings, with plans to make it ‘very funny, very stupid’.

    The players in rightwing racism (populism) are the types of people who loved and reminisced about the old school racist jokes and way of life mindset that offended minorities while they laughed loud at the perceived wit, and are still in shock that minorities are considered as equals with equal rights. So they started a War against being correct and woke.

  43. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @David or the late Col. Buggy, whoever “…cut up prime agricultural land to put big houses on…”

    Why are we building big houses when the birth rate is only 1.63 per woman and falling?

    Have we asked ourselves what is the optimum size of a house to serve 1 to 4 people?

    Should we really be building houses of 2,000 to 5,000 square feet?

    Ironic isn’t it that when families were big, houses were small, and now that families are small a houses are monstrous.

    And all those stairs and jacuzzi bathrooms. At the first stroke the stair lovers will see which God they serving.

    I mean how do ambulance personnel get a patient on a stretcher down a winding staircase?

  44. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @David November 14, 2024 at 7:53 am “What did Bobby Mcferrin advise?”

    Don’t worry. Be happy.

  45. John Avatar
    John

    How much tax does the GOB collect on the gas that the owners of the 120K cars buy?

    How much Land Tax does the GOB collect annually?

  46. John Avatar
    John

    Bet no one can answer those two questions!!

  47. John Avatar
    John

    I will give you a hint for the second one.

    It is part of property tax!!

  48. John Avatar
    John

    Go look in the estimates.

    The GOB has taken in 2009 about $111 million in land tax.

    Land tax became a part of property taxes.

    In 2023 it took $240 million in property taxes!!

  49. David Avatar
    David

    https://www.instagram.com/p/DB7Sw5OPr2R/?igsh=OXZzb2U5Mm5jbWRi

  50. John Avatar
    John

    You could also go to the Estimates for a year by year change.

    https://www.barbadosparliament.com/document/listall/3

    Check this head.

    TABLE 4 – ESTIMATES OF CURRENT REVENUE BY STANDARD ACCOUNT CODE 2024 – 2025

    Total current Revenue for 2022-23 was $3,488,249,495.

    3.5 ffing billion dollars!!

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