In March 2025, Grenada Land Actors (GLA) wrote an article headlined ‘Lawlessness in Greenz’ which highlighted the fact that the company Rayneau was continuing to carry out construction in Woodford despite two stop orders.
GLA was questioning how this company was allowed to do this and where was the enforcement by the Planning and Development Authority (PDA). The Sunday edition, 15th February 2026, of the Bubb Report which discussed the La Sagesse developments may have shed some more light on the subject.
The guests on the programme, Brian Samuel, a resident of St David; Davidson Nedd, a member of a civil society grouping in Grenada and Mr Shehada, the developer constructing the three phases in La Sagesse.
One of Mr Nedd ‘s roles on behalf of civil society was as their representative on the Natural, Cultural and Heritage Advisory Committee of the Physical Planning Authority, which has now been replaced by the Planning and Development Authority. The committee is established in law which requires the board to be advised by it, this is not policy, it is law.
Mr Nedd went on to say, “The committee was meant to sit every month prior to the Board’s approvals, to vet matters relating to natural, cultural and heritage considerations. Therefore, when a development such as La Sagesse which has significant beaches, ponds, historic sites, it should have been vetted by that committee.
However, when the La Sagesse development started in 2019/2020, it started without the input of that committee……. For La Sagesse, there is beach access and cultural implications; the pond had environmental considerations; there is also a standing stone of heritage significance. Those trigger the committee’s oversight. The Act says the authority must send the matter to the committee for consideration and comments.
That’s the process.”
It appears that this committee has not been constituted since 2020, therefore an intrinsic section of the law was not adhered to in the case of the La Sagesse development.
Mr Samuel, in his response to Mr Nedd said “But how does it work in practice? If the committee was listened to, it would be called in for Levera, Mount Hartman as those are national park / sanctuary areas with obvious heritage and environmental significance. Where is the committee on those? In practice, it becomes “minister says.” PDA rolls over when there’s big money.” These are direct quotes from the said Bubb Report.
GLA asked a similar question in its article on 10th December 2025 “Is the Government breaking its own laws?” where GLA spoke of possible interference in matters which should lie squarely with the Planning and Development Authority (PDA).
Under the Physical Planning and Development Control Act (2016) any major development must undergo a full Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) before work begins.
Yet we now have clear examples which suggest that there might have been gross interference in the decision-making process of the PDA when it comes to Woodford and La Sagesse.
In a recent Press conference, the Prime Minister, who is the line minister for PDA acknowledged that he had signed off on permission for the Rayneau industrial development in Woodford to go ahead without and ESIA, albeit with some conditions.
This was in direct contradiction to his statement in Parliament, almost a year ago, where he stated that no work would be allowed to continue in Woodford without PDA approving an ESIA. This is also directly at odds with the 2016 Planning Act. The Woodford Environmental Alliance for Community Transformation (WEACT) documented this fully in an article published in The Voice and New Today on Friday 5th December 2025.
Unfortunately, the same thing happened in La Sagesse where no EIAs were requested either for Phase 2 and 3 and it is our understanding that it was the PDA Board who decided that it would not be necessary for Range Development to commission the ESIA’s. The obvious questions might be: Why was no EIA requested for the second and third phases of these projects, who greenlights developments of this scale without proper checks and balances?
The developers at La Sagesse have continued to place large stones on the beach restricting public access and despite objections lodged with the PDA there was no enforcement action against Range Developers. Officers of PDA have said that those with greater powers had spoken in the matter and consequently that their ‘hands were tied’.
Was Mr Samuel correct in his retort on the Bubb Report; ‘In practice, it becomes “minister says.” PDA rolls over when there’s big money.’ Is it the case that PDA rolls over when there is big money or are they told to ignore the required process when there is big money?
Ironically however, when community members spoke to their Parliamentary Representative in La Sagesse, who is also the line minister for PDA, his response was to tell the PDA to do their work properly.
The above reflects the views of Grenada Land Actors