Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Freundel Stuart making a point during his recent press conference at Ilaro Court.
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Sun, 06/05/2016 - 12:00am
PM seeking to change legislation to give Chief Town Planner more power
THE powers of the Chief Town Planner (CTP) are likely to be strengthened to deal with persons who are in breach of the Town and Country Planning regulations.
That’s because Prime Minister the Right Honourable Freundel Stuart, under who the Town and Country Planning Department Office (TCPDO) falls, has expressed concern about the increasing number of persons who are not taking the instructions given by CTP, Mark Cummins, as seriously as they should. As such, he is hoping to have legislative amendments made to give the CTP the right to “apply to the court for injunctive relief”.
“If people are not taking the enforcement notices seriously, he should be able to go to the court and get an injunction, so that they would have to take the judge’s injunction seriously. And if they don’t take the judge’s injunction seriously, they will be in contempt of court and the penalty for contempt of court is committal to the prison at Dodds. I think we have to get to that stage if that is what is going to be required,” he indicated.
Stuart told journalists at a luncheon at Ilaro Court on Friday afternoon, that this disregard shown towards the CTP is not limited to any particular group, pointing out that it emanates from even the most modest villages in this country.
“People are told by the Town Planner to stop building because they don’t have permission, or stop because you are not building in accordance with the plan you submitted, or with the permission you were given, and as soon as the officers turn their backs, they resume as if they were not told. Enforcement notices are then issued and they ignore them too, and that has to stop,” he insisted.
The Prime Minister is adamant that as a country that subscribes to the rule of law, “not to the rule of fancy and personal preference”, it is imperative that the message goes out to Barbadians and those living in this country that the development of Barbados has to be ordered, and that can only be achieved if people comply with the instructions given by the CTP.
“The strategy is among certain persons who don’t comply, that if they do enough building and have a large enough expenditure outlay, when the Minister comes out to do his site visits and he sees how much work has been done, he would be conscience-stricken and basically say to himself that even though the wrongdoer flouted the law, it would be unjust to demolish the property,” he suggested.
However, the PM, firm in his stance, contended that he would not be so swayed as to allow that kind of lawlessness to prevail and sacrifice the rule of law.
The Prime Minister’s remarks came after a question posed by the media regarding, why he has not intervened in the matter concerning the structure being erected off the Spring Garden Highway by Rock Hard Cement. That company was issued with an enforcement notice late last month by the CTP to stop construction and demolish the concrete structure, but the structure remains as the company seems to have made an application for retention.
Stuart, opting instead to give a general statement on the challenges faced by that Town Planner, insisted that the matter was not referred to his office, and he was not prepared to prejudice any decision he was likely to make if and when it did reach him. He went on to explain to the media personnel and other guests present at the luncheon, that in terms of applications for retention made to the TCPDO, he cannot act until such matters are brought to his office, as there are procedures to be followed.
“I can’t think of any application for retention that has been made to the Chief Town Planner since I was Minister with responsibility for Town Planning, that I made without getting out of my office and going to the site and doing a site visit to see what it is you are talking about. So it would have been statutorily improper for me to intervene, because there is a procedure prescribed by the Town and Country Planning Act, which procedure is at present being followed,” he explained. (JRT)