The Planning and Development Authority gave planning consent for an industrial boatyard in the ancient mangrove forest at the top of Mt Hartman Bay.
In a post earlier, we said: “Many of you have expressed disgust at the proposal to put an industrial boatyard in the mangroves at the top of Mt Hartman Bay. Mangroves will be destroyed, the seabed dredged and piled, the marine environment of the whole Bay will be devastated with chemical contamination from boat repair including run off of aquatic poisons as old antifouling is removed from hulls.
Our government agencies responsible for agriculture, fisheries, environment and climate have all registered problems that this boatyard will create. If Grenada really needs another boatyard, (which is doubtful) this is not a suitable location.” https://coralcovegrenada.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ea11c3d18c52ca5e4fef5e6d9&id=4f853afaf5&e=7b37a5664d.”
In granting planning consent, the Authority ignored some of the important recommendations of government experts. It failed to include these as conditions of the consent and failed to give any reason for not doing so. It undertook no community consultation and has since said it didn’t need to.
It said, “there is no general common law duty to consult anyone affected by a measure before it is adopted.” So the Authority obviously has no time for community views – not exactly the way to command community respect. Sadly, it begins to look like the new Authority is little better than the old one.
The developer, Mr Peter Evans, then cleared the land in violation of some of the few conditions that were imposed. Namely that protective measures must be put in place prior to land clearance – including preventing silt run off into the sea, dust control measures and the production of a plan to remove vegetation.
These violations are sufficient to allow the Authority to revoke the planning consent without financial compensation and oblige the developer to apply again at which point the Authority could correct its faults by listening to community and environmental concerns and either rejecting the application or imposing adequate conditions on the consent. We reminded the Authority of its duty to do so but it has not seen fit to reply and has taken no action.
This left us with no choice but to submit a claim for judicial review to the court. And, with some financial support from you the community, we have done so. Anyone who is sufficiently interested in the detail can request a copy of the relevant papers from us.
Through its lawyers for this (Mr Ian Sandy of Amicus Attorneys), the Authority has presented its own submission to the court and the developer has applied to be an ‘Interested Party’ to the proceedings (lawyers Afi Ventour & Co). Our first court hearing is scheduled for 20 September 2023.
We now need additional financial support. We estimate that to conclude the case to judgement from the court we will need around EC$40,000. We have a very good chance of winning this case and if we can, it would set a great precedent and show the Authority that the community will not accept sloppy and environmentally destructive decisions that ignore community concerns.
It will also show wayward developers that we cannot be walked over as they pursue their own gain at the expense of others.
So please dig deep and let us have some contributions. We will keep you anonymous if you wish. Please transfer to the account below and email us to say you have done so and if you want to remain anonymous.
Account: Roger England
Account number: 4125100
Bank: Grenada Co-operative Bank Limited
Swift: GROAGDGD
If the case is concluded prematurely for any reason we will refund you the remaining proportion of your contribution.
This is now the only way this boatyard can be stopped unless the Authority decides to avoid it all by revoking the consent but it has shown no sign of doing this.
Coral Cove Group
L’Anse aux Epines