Daraine Luton, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

McCaulay (left) and Townsend (right)

The NATIONAL Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) says it does not have authority to stop any development ordered by parish councils.

NEPA, to dismay of environmentalists, last week told a Gleaner Editors' Forum that it does not have the power to overrule on planned developments that have been approved by the local planning committee.

contemplating an environment, planning act

Winsome Townsend, director of strategic planning, policies and projects, said because of the discrepancy, policy framers are now contemplating an environment and planning act.

NEPA is mandated by law to ensure environmental impact assessments (EIAs) are done before considering applications for developments. But during a recent Editors' Forum at the Gleaner North Street Offices in Kingston, Ms. Townsend hinted that NEPA plays a secondary role to local authorities in the issuing of development orders.

"NEPA has a role but it is the parish councils and local authorities that have the final say as to whether development can take place under the Town and Country Planning Act," she pointed out.

Role

"Our role is to make recommendation to the parish council or local authorities that make a decision," Ms. Townsend added.

However, Diana McCaulay, CEO of the Jamaica Environmental Trust, believed NEPA is misguided.

"What would happen if the parish council issues a permit and NEPA says no?" quizzed a sceptical Ms. McCaulay.

Ms. Townsend responded by saying "NEPA has the responsi-bility in terms of how that development takes place "but not if development takes place.

Dorothy Delgado, Secretary/Manager of the St. Ann Parish Council, later told The Sunday Gleaner in a telephone interview, that there are instances when NEPA has the final say on development proposals.

"There are conditions which require special planning approval and NEPA gives these but it is normally the parish council," Mrs. Delgado said.

An EIA is integral to the process of building approval and environmentalists have said that their warnings of environmental degradation normally fall on deaf ears.

Wendy Lee, executive director of the Northern Jamaica Conservation Association, suggests that monetary gains have been chosen at the expense of the environment and Jamaica will pay a serious price. She says that not only will coral reefs die but the scenic beaches will soon disappear.

Losing our coastlines

"We do not look at cumulative impacts. While we are turning away, we are losing our coastlines," she said.

Ms. McCaulay foresees at least one major human problem in developed areas.

"People flock to the area in response to the jobs that the hotel development promises," Ms. McCaulay argues. "They are going to be left with a squatting problem, the same kind of squatting problem that is Negril, Ocho Rios and Montego Bay once that hotel is finished," she added.