The Tribune

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff Reporter

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

AUTHORITIES demolished five structures and removed about 20 residents from the Cowpen Manor shanty town yesterday, months after occupants were ordered to leave the unauthorised settlement off Cowpen Road.

Superintendent Stephen Carey, chairman of the Unregulated Communities Action Task Force, said authorities received a report about the community in April and investigated the area in May, when residents were issued 28-day notices.

Residents were asked to remove themselves and their belongings before yesterday’s demolition.

The move was intended to avoid a repeat of a physical altercation between residents and task force members during a July demolition at the Montgomery shanty town, also off Cowpen Road.

The operation comes as the government continues demolitions in unregulated communities and prepares to expand the exercise beyond New Providence.

Supt Carey warned that people who continue to build or occupy unauthorised structures could now face prosecution under the Building Control Act.

“We are asking persons who are building on these lands that are not theirs and without a building permit to cease doing so,” he said.

“Moving forward, the task force will be charging any person who occupies or builds on these lands,” Supt Carey said. “Once caught there, you will be charged under the Building Control Act and placed before the court.”

He said people should stop building or occupying the properties because those caught there would be charged.

Shanty town demolitions have been carried out at several locations this year as the government continues efforts to address unregulated communities and illegal structures.

The task force is now preparing operations in the Family Islands.

A team is scheduled to travel to Abaco, while another is expected to visit Andros to carry out demolitions by the end of the month.