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A number of the shanty structures listed in the filed affidavit

By PAVEL BAILEY

Tribune Staff Reporter

pbailey@tribunemedia.net

THE Buildings Control Officer responsible for building permits has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court detailing structures built illegally by people whose homes may be demolished.

The government has asked Chief Justice Ian Winder to issue a demolition order authorizing the destruction of hundreds of structures allegedly built in contravention of an injunction from Justice Cheryl Grant-Bethel.

Notices of the court hearing about the matter have been served on residents in the communities.

Earlier this month, Chief Justice Winder directed Building Control Officer Craig Delancy to meet with the residents who attended the hearing to identify their structures.

In his affidavit, Mr Delancy said the 13 residents were from shanty towns in Montgomery, All Saints and Butlers Way. He said when he met with the residents, he asked if they had valid building permits.

Mr Delancy found that one of the residents, a woman with a spousal permit, had a building permit for a location in Coconut Grove, not off Montgomery Avenue.

One person had a permit but he said their house appeared “not to have been built as approved on plan.”

Overall, eleven of the residents lacked a permit, and Mr Delancy found irregularities with the homes of those who did.

Fred Smith, K.C., argued in court yesterday against allowing Mr Delancy’s application to be submitted as evidence, saying the matter had been adjourned pending judgement.

The government’s lawyer, Kayla Green Smith, countered that the evidence is critical to her case.

The Chief Justice ultimately accepted the affidavit into evidence.

The two lawyers argued about whether the residents received proper notices of potential action.

“There is clear evidence before the court that in 2021 that signs were posted on SC Bootle Highway and The Farm in Abaco by then Minister of Public Works Desmond Bannister,” Mrs Green Smith said.