The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Government was yesterday urged to create “thousands of jobs” by unlocking a ‘green economy’ in the Bahamas, a top QC calling on it to make developers finance enforcement of the main Planning law.

Fred Smith QC, the Callenders & Co attorney and partner who has led many Judicial Review actions against developments that failed to follow statutory approvals processes, rejected calls by leading developer Franklyn Wilson for the Government to substantially amend the Planning and Subdivisions Act.

Rather than water this down, Mr Smith told Tribune Business the Government should require developers to pay the costs of enforcing the Act if it was too financially burdensome for the Government to handle.

He added that the economic benefits to the Bahamas from doing so would be vast, as it would transform this nation’s reputation from one where unregulated development thrives.

Instead, Mr Smith suggested that ‘following and implementing’ the planning rules would bolster this nation as one that respected the environment and local rights, something that would attract the right kind of development and investor to these shores.

“Going green would create an economy burgeoning with the 10,000 jobs the PLP have promised,” he told Tribune Business, arguing that this would foster the likes of renewable energy and waste management industries, plus supporting regulatory agencies.

“It would mark the country as one of the most desirable places where investors would want to come and own a home, and reside. Land and housing development would boom throughout the Bahamas by going green,” Mr Smith said.

“Business and investment requires certainty of application of the laws, and a green economy creating thousands of jobs can easily be created by the Government enforcing and respecting zoning and development legislation,

“The Bahamas can be an icon of economic development if the Government would put its money where its mouth is and respects our environment.

“That would only help business - foreign and Bahamian - not hinder it. It’s the uncertainty and secret deals that create confusion and adversity for stakeholders.”

Mr Smith is the lead attorney in the Judicial Review action brought by the ReEarth environmental group against the Blackbeard’s Cay project.

During the group’s inquiries into the development, they are alleging that Michael Major, the director of physical planning, admitted the Government effectively lacked the funding to enforce critical aspects of the Planning and Subdivisions Act - such as the requirement to hold Town Meetings and public consultations before such projects are approved.

Mr Wilson, Arawak Homes’ chairman, said this showed the Government could not enforce its own planning laws.

He added that the Planning and Subdivisions Act needed to be amended “sooner rather than later” to prevent all development projects becoming bogged down in “never ending Judicial Review” actions to which they have “no defence” - because the Government has failed to follow its own statutory processes in granting approvals.

The Judicial Review actions already created by this problem have resulted in affected developers incurring major time and money costs, not to mention growing frustration on their part after complying with everything the Government has asked them to do.

Mr Smith, though, said Mr Wilson’s suggestion that the Planning and Subdivisions Act be amended or watered down was not the answer. Instead, he argued that the solution lay in making prospective developers pay.

“You cannot hope to develop sensibly and responsibly in the Bahamas unless there is implementation and enforcement of the Planning and Subdivisions Act,” the well-known QC told Tribune Business.

“So far, there has been an abject failure, hence Judicial Review. The simple way to avoid that is to comply with the law. We are a nation ruled by law, not the Wild Wild West show, and I urge the PLP not to maker changes to the Planning and Subdivisions Act.

“Except perhaps to place the financial burden of public consultation exercises, Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and other regulatory oversight expenses on the developer, as occurs in many other parts of the world. The state does not bear the expense.”

Mr Smith added that the Bahamas was moving into an “era of modern and regulated development”, and said the Planning and Subdivisions Act was vital in ensuring both foreign and Bahamian investors knew “what the rules are”.

“Gone should be the day when no rules existed, and the consumer, the environment, local government and local culture had no protection and no rights,” he told Tribune Business.

“The Planning and Subdivisions Act brings the Bahamas into the modern planning, regulated world which exists throughout North America, Europe and elsewhere, where they understand the need for balance and harmony between stakeholders.”