Tougher legislation on SDO process due

Special Development Orders will soon be subject to much stricter regulations to avoid abuse of the system.

This is according to Planning Minister Sylvan Richards who told the Bermuda Sun that new legislation would be tabled this summer to ensure that the SDO process was open to more public consultation and debate.

Mr Richards confirmed that the Government had no intention of ‘doing away’ with the orders which have proved controversial in the past

He said that SDOs still have an important role to play.

He added: “We will put in place a series of protocols to ensure that they are processed just as regular planning applications.

“Someone requesting an SDO has to go to planning and planning will look at the initial application.

“Planning can either support the idea or not.

“If it is supported they will brief me and I will review if it is supportable.

“I will then take it to Cabinet and brief Cabinet.

“If Cabinet agrees then planning will be given the formal application and go through the normal process whereby the public can see it and the Development Applications Board will look at it.

“The only difference with regard to the DAB will be that they cannot turn it down.

“The Board will not have the power to reject it.

“They can make recommendations but it will come back to me and I as Minister will make the final decision myself.”

The new legislation governing SDOs has already been approved by Cabinet and will be tabled before both Houses this summer.

Minister Richards hopes the new regulations will make the system more robust.

He added: “Situations like we have had before where a Minister arbitrarily approves an application with a lack of consultation are taken out of the equation with this change we are making.

“Legislation will be tabled to this affect and we can avoid some of the hiccups we have seen in the past.”

The news has been welcomed by environmental group BEST with cautious optimism.

Chairman Stuart Hayward told the Sun: “We don’t have a problem with the principle that there will be developments such as hotels that will require special treatment, hence a “Special” Development Order as opposed to a general one.

“However, the process for vetting and granting an SDO has been tinkered with recently, with the resulting product being less transparent than before, despite good intentions.

“As examples the SDO for the Grand Atlantic was originally for a luxury hotel and high end residences; successive amendments to the SDO left us with no hotel and residences that few like and even fewer want.

“Secondly the original SDO for Southlands was published in draft form so the public could be consulted; the process of consultation didn’t measure up to the ideals of consultation but, fortunately, the idea of a swap for land at Morgan’s Point put the SDO to rest. And thirdly for the Tucker’s Point development, the decision on the SDO was transferred from the Environment Minister to Parliament, a step touted as more democratic.

“Again, the outcome didn’t live up to the intention. Setting aside the content of the SDO — which will surface repeatedly as unsatisfactory — the process was flawed in that legislators, and the public they represent, were deprived of information vital to render an “informed” decision.

“We will have to wait and see just what changes are planned.”