Section 06 - UKOTCF

I bid you all a pleasant morning. I want to talk to
you today about a problem common to several UK
Overseas Territories, especially in the Caribbean.
I will concentrate on my own home, the Turks &
Caicos Islands. The problem is being caused by
over-development and inappropriate development,
and the failure to follow internationally recognised
planning procedures. Examples include the “Star
Island” project, Life Resorts International development,
and Salt Cay Dock. I want to highlight the
importance of civil society in bringing such issues
to wider public attention, and in challenging planning
proposals and changing outcomes.
The general value of natural protected areas, both
for conserving the natural heritage and the ecosystem
benefits that these provide, has been widely acknowledged.
Effective safeguarding of such areas
is dependent on a planned land-use strategy, and
open and wide-ranging consultation on proposed
developments. Planning needs to be open to local
public debate, and to comment by international
experts, rather than being a closed process involving
a small number of people – whether elected or
appointed officials, or commercial interests.
As we have seen from the previous presentation,
it is accepted that international best standards for
planning and development require these processes
to be open, and readily accessible to the public,
with independent Environmental Impact Assessments.
This open, consultative process with proper independent
Environmental Impact Assessments
happens within the United Kingdom. It is the law.
However, in some UKOTs, the public perception
is that this vital open planning consultation process
does not take place, and if it does, the views
expressed are not taken note of. Thus, this process
is frequently circumvented in some UKOTs, even
when it is also the law there.
Many of you will be aware that, in the Turks &
Caicos Islands over the last few years, we have
excelled ourselves in disregarding proper planning
procedures and open consultation.
However, I will start with some reference to the situation
in some other Caribbean UKOTs. I will then
present some specific examples from the Turks and
Caicos Islands.
In this afternoon’s session, we look forward to
hearing some presentations very relevant to my
topic, from the British Virgin Islands and from here
in Grand Cayman. Therefore, I will not attempt
to steal their thunder. I, for one, will be keen to
see what we can learn from their experience. I see
that there are also presentations from Bermuda.
However, I will mention one example from there,
because it has been in the press, but I do not think
it is in the programme, and I suspect that we can
learn from it it. I hope that the participants from
Bermuda – and elsewhere – will bear with me and,
later in the discussion, correct anything I get wrong
as well as drawing out other points that they think
are relevant.
Bermuda is a prosperous, very densely populated
territory and, as such, the pressure for further
development is continuous. There is good environmental
and planning legislation, but, as in
many cases, there are provisions for over-ruling
objections and giving the go-ahead for development
- which is a common problem in the Turks
and Caicos Islands. Fairly recently, it was proposed
to construct a beach bar facility on Warwick
Long Bay. There was concern locally about such a
development in a National Park Conservation Area
and on Bermuda’s last pristine large public beach.
There was a suggestion that the proposal had been
approved by the Environment Minister, over-ruling
the previous rejection of the proposal by the Development
Applications Board, and an independent
planning inspection. A petition and other action
opposing the project was organised by the Bermuda
Environmental and Sustainability Taskforce.
On March 6 2009 the petition, signed by over 5000
people, was delivered to the Premier, Dr Ewart
Brown. As one of those involved, Stuart Hayward,
said: “What is the point of laws and regulations
and the expert counsel of planners, conservation
specialists, custodians of parklands and even an
Independent Inspector, if a Minister can ignore it
all, and in the process endorse the trashing of the
very environment he is pledged to protect?”
I do not know what the outcome of this was, or
will be. There are people here from Bermuda who
perhaps will be able to tell us in the discussion.
However, it is clear that public opinion and civil
society are making themselves heard in Bermuda.
We have had some small successes, but have a long
way to go in this regard in the Turks and Caicos
Islands, to which I now turn.
On paper, the Turks and Caicos Islands have an
impressive suite of protected areas. There are 33
Making the Right Connections: a conference on conservation in UK Overseas Territories, Crown Dependencies and other small island communities, page 196