THE EDITOR, Madam:
THE RESIDENTS of the Eastwood Park community have been protesting the encroachment of commercial activities in their environment for almost 20 years. Under the law the community is protected from such encroachment. However, residents are being misled by well meaning people, including politicians into thinking that the Local Authority can remove the encroachment simply by enforcing the law. Perhaps if the law is applied vigorously at this stage it could stop further encroachment, but hardly likely to restore the residential character of the community.
The control of land use development in Jamaica and especially in our urban centres is in a state of crisis. This fact is obvious to those of us who must interface professionally with the development process and are for the most part committed to the notion of 'orderly and progressive development'.
To begin with the laws and regulations designed to enforce land use compliance and to stop illegal development are frustratingly slow, expensive to administer, legally cumbersome and out of touch with the cultural habits and attitudes of our people. They simply do not work effectively enough to make a difference.
Official land use documents which are required under the Town and Country Planning Act to guide development are either non-existent or too out of date to command the respect necessary to inspire compliance. For example the Kingston Development Order is 34 years old and does not make adequate provision for the projected land use demands for the growing needs of the society. Consequently our urban centres are littered with land use breaches in conflict with the Development Order. Many land owners point to illegal land use precedents, some by the State, as their guide for making development decisions. Many still feel they have an unfettered right to use their land as they see fit.
Norman Manley in his address to Parliament in October of 1957 in introducing a Bill in the House of Representatives to make provisions for Town Planning stated "...But in modern times the whole world has more or less come around to the view that the State not only has a right but has a positive responsibility to take active part in planning for the correct use of its land."
Notwithstanding the existence of a Ministry devoted entirely to the use of land and its created entities including the Town and Country Planning Authority, the Town Planning Department, the Planning Advisory Board, Local Planning Authorities, the environmental agencies and so many registered professional architects and engineers the emerging fabric and form of our urban landscapes are visually depressing, function poorly and seem to be getting worse.
The situation is compounded by the fact that close to 90 per cent of development plans approved by the local authorities are technically prepared and submitted by unqualified persons who are not accountable by law with respect to adherence to the approved plans.
My experience in the public service and in private practice has convinced me that the use of professionals that can be held accountable by law for the preparation and execution of the land-use development projects, however small, adds inestimable value not only to the project itself, but to the order and quality of the development control process.
The Development Control exercise is a highly professional game which must be practised at the local level for maximum effect. It starts with the preparation of development plans inspired by local participation and consensus. It is not limited to comments on land use inquiries and development applications or the serving of enforcement notices to stop illegal uses. It must include the active and continuous promotion of the desired land uses to ensure compliance by the stakeholders.
I sincerely hope that the formation of the Environmental Planning Agency is not just an attempt to save money but a creative effort by the state to ensure 'orderly and progressive development' as promised by the Town and Council Planning Act.
I am, etc.,
KEITH LUMSDEN
Architect/Planner
8 Hamilton Drive
Kingston 10
