By Fay Simmons

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

AFTER the removal of signs in the Montagu Beach area, St Anne’s MP Adrian White has called for more strategic city planning and an equal application of regulations for all parties.

Speaking in Parliament yesterday, Mr White called for the government to zone more green areas exclusively for recreational use, and not economic purposes.

Highlighting the number of signs recently removed from Montagu through an initiative launched by the Beaches and Parks Authority and the number of unlicenced vendors still operating at the park, Mr White said policies need to be put in place to regulate vendor activity on public parks.

“We need to have a plan to preserve green spaces. I’ve recently heard. after it was raised in this honourable house, the issue of increased signage, commercial signage at Montagu Park, the increased amount of vendors operating, apparently without licence,” said Mr White.

“Now under the Parks and Beaches Authority, [there’s] a campaign to remove unauthorised signs, and a number of signs have been removed from Montagu in particular, but not all signs. But as it related to the vendors that are operating there, there seem to be an acceptance that some of these persons were there without permission from Parks and Beaches Authority. But it didn’t appear as though there was going to be a policy implemented so that certain parks would have no vendors, so that certain areas would be purely left for the peaceful enjoyment by Bahamians.”

Mr White reiterated his objections to having Montagu Beach serve as a commercial area instead of an area residents use solely for recreational purposes, Mr White said the enforcement of rules should be done consistently and equally to all stakeholders.

“What it sounded like from the executive director was that we’re aware that there are vendors operating there, and we’re going to bring them in so that they can go through the proper permitting and approval process. That’s not the enforcement of the laws we want. We shouldn’t be a nation where you can act first and ask later. That’s not a policy,” said Mr White.

“That is a policy that ultimately leads to us continuing to be behind on where we need to go through our development and progress as a nation, everyone should follow the rules. There should be a plan in place so that not only do the ministers, not only do parliamentarians, not only do Bahamians, but even anybody living the country, they know what they can do and what they cannot do. And if there’s something that they cannot do, they know how they can go about it, the proper way, the legal way. We don’t have to cure problems, if we don’t invite them to begin with, we should do away with an act first, ask later, approach”

He said the government should hire more employees at the Department of Physical Planning to conduct site visits.

“We also need a government that is going to ensure that there is application of our zoning rules, that there is land use plans and land use policies that there’s not clear cut destruction of our environmental areas,” said Mr White.

“We need to have more persons that can come from The Department of Physical Planning to inspect sites where persons are applying for certain types of business licenses, whether it’s alcohol licences in too close proximity to schools or in too close proximity to churches.”