By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

THE Spanish Wells Commonage Committee has implemented a one-year building ban due to the expansion of shanty towns on generational farmland.

According to a letter posted to Facebook by Ivanhoe Sweeting, chairman of the Spanish Wells Commonage Committee, the ban went into effect on October 25.

According to Mr Sweeting, the letter was delivered to the office of the administrator for North Eleuthera’s district council, the Ministry of Works, and Bahamas Power and Light.

In the letter, Mr Sweeting states that the ban is on “any and all buildings”, including additions to existing structures or making connections to BPL for power supply in the area of Blackwoods, which is considered to be “within the Spanish Wells commonage land”.

“We will not grant any such permission in light of the recent, drastic increase of illegal building by persons disregarding the laws of the land,” Mr Sweeting wrote in the letter.

Work and Utilities Minister Alfred Sears was contacted for comment by this newspaper but was unresponsive up to press time.

Mr Sweeting said the organisation has made several attempts to seek assistance from government officials, however, their complaints were “ignored and disregarded”.

He wrote: “We have in the past voiced concerns and stipulations, but our words have thus far been ignored and disregarded.”

On Mr Sweeting’s Facebook page, he has made several posts showing photos of the alleged illegal structures that were torn down.

“Another illegal house torn down by the Commonage Committee yesterday that’s (three) so far,” he wrote on October 18, sharing three images.

He also posted two images in late September of a wooden structure he said was illegally built and torn down.

Similar incidents have reportedly taken place in Abaco, as there has been a recent expansion of several shanty towns, with one unregulated community mushrooming to 200 acres since 2019, according to government officials.

Prime Minister Phillip “Brave” Davis recently said his administration is looking at how best to deal with the shanty towns in Abaco that are not covered by an existing court injunction.

Recently, Mr Sears advised people contemplating building on land that does not belong to them to cease and desist because the government “will not tolerate it”.

According to the minister, officials will announce “shortly” the measures they will be taking to resolve the shanty town problem within the country.