Preserving Portland - Stakeholders worry about parish plans despite assurances from national agency
Published:Sunday | May 4, 2014 | 12:00 AM
Ryon Jones, Staff Reporter
Several stakeholders in Portland are still not buying into the development order for the parish despite indications from the Town and Country Planning Authority (TCPA), that their concerns are being addressed.
In a letter to The Gleaner last week, chairman of the TCPA, John Junor, responded to concerns raised by the stakeholders and declared that these are being reviewed.
Junor also indicated that the provisional development order was prepared after extensive consultations with stakeholders in the parish.
But Larry Robertson, head of the Portland Parish Development Committee, is still demanding that the TCPA revisit a number of issues in the provision development order.
While declaring that it is not his committee's desire to be at loggerheads with the TCPA or the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), Robertson was adamant that its plan for tourism in the parish is insufficient.
"We don't really want to have an issue with NEPA, we want to work with them," said Robertson.
"We feel that there are areas in the order that support tourism, but we are saying that this could be expanded. The main shortfall is that they should look more closely at heritage, environment and ecotourism," added Robertson.
He said one of the items mentioned in the provisional development order that needs more thought is the plan to transport persons from the Ken Jones Airport to Port Antonio.
SQUATTERS TAKE OVER
"This is not possible at the moment, as there are a lot of squatter settlements that have taken over the railway lines, so most of the areas that the lines would have operated are now blocked," said Robertson.
"If we are going to talk about using the railway for tourism, then NEPA and the parish development stakeholders would have to come together and see how these persons can be relocated."
The TCPA had argued that based on previous discussions and consultations regarding port development in Portland there had been a general consensus that cruise ships 650 feet, with 400 passengers or fewer, represents the maximum size vessels that can be accommodated to avoid the need for continual costly and environmentally damaging dredging of the harbour. But that has not satisfied Robertson.
"I think that argument has been generated by some persons who are orthodox environmentalist," argued Robertson.
"We don't believe that there will be any coastal problems. That argument doesn't hold any water whatsoever. At some point persons were saying similar things about Falmouth and what type of ships they can take, and now Falmouth takes some mega lines."
Robertson is also renewing his call for the development order to consider improvements to be made to the Ken Jones Airport.
"If we can get Ken Jones expanded then tourist could be airlifted in, and we are not talking about expanding Ken Jones for any mega aircraft or airbus. We just want it be able to accommodate aircraft that maybe can carry 100 passengers."
Robertson is also adamant that the development order should move its focus from mere cultivation and be expanded to agro-processing, with more emphasis on fishery.
"The order can speak more about fishing and aquaculture," Robertson expressed. "We had hoped that the order would have said something about the development of tertiary institutions or something of that nature, as it would be good for CASE to be more interwoven in the parish's agriculture development."