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Associates of Urban Strategies Inc, Anna Iannucci and Tyler Baker speaking about the Physical Development Plan 2017 (Draft) at the community meeting.

PDP TACKLING ISSUES

The Physical Development Plan (PDP) 2017 (Draft) is taking a serious look at ways to solve traffic congestion issues, protect agricultural land, and how to build the island’s resilience for adaptation to climate change.

Speaking at one of a series of six scheduled community meetings on the Physical Development Plan amendment which has been in the works over the past year, Anna Iannucci of Urban Strategies Inc, a company which is working with the Town & Country Developing Planning Office on the project, said the Plan is an opportunity to introduce transformational and foundational change to the island and to address key developing issues the country has been facing over the years.

The urban planner explained during the event held at Queen’s College on Tuesday evening, that one of the ways in which the traffic congestion concern must be tackled is through changing the mindset of Barbadians, as it relates to the ways they move around the island.

“We are introducing a focus on mobility and accessibility, so rather than trying to get cars around, we are trying to get people around by different modes of transportation. So we can use cars, but also public transportation as well as walking and cycling as forms of transportation,” she said.

Iannucci also pointed out that while the Plan was also designed to introduce the concept of healthy and complete communities through the reduction of Non Communicable Diseases, promoting active transportation and encouraging Barbadians to eat healthy local foods will assist in this effort.

“Another plan is definitely protecting agricultural lands. The background analysis shows that it’s quite an alarming rate at which the agriculture land has been lost, either to conversion to other uses or allowed to go to the bush. We are trying to recognise that agricultural land is where you produce food for Barbados and how you create food security and food sovereignty for Barbados. You spend a huge amount of foreign exchange on importing food into Barbados and that puts you at great risk if ever something should happen to the international food system. So we are looking at agricultural land as an irreplaceable resource because once you have lost it to urban development, it’s gone,” she said.

The PDP amendment creates a contemporary policy framework to guide land use, development and infrastructure decisions in a manner that promotes sustainability and resiliency across the island. (AH)

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