WHILE THERE IS always room for improvement, the Town and Country Development Planning Office is satisfied it has methods in place to deal relatively quickly with large scale developments.
Deputy chief town planner George Browne said his department had a fast track system in place just for such occasions but there was a still a process which had to be adhered to.
“We have a system in place where we fast track major applications which would generate both employment and foreign exchange but you find some of those large projects require more consultation from various agencies. Some of them also require an environmental impact assessment or a traffic impact assessment and those can take up to three to six months to prepare,” he said.
Browne said the department was continually seeking to streamline its operations but for now they were satisfied with their fast tracking system, which he said was handled by senior planners.
Browne was speaking today prior to a seminar looking at the Inter-American Development Bank Emerging Sustainable Cities Initiative as part of Town Planning Week to commemorate World Town Planning Day on November 8. It was held in the Horatio Cooke Auditorium of the National Union of Public Workers for sixth form geography and environmental science students.
Acting senior town planner Rudy Headley said Bridgetown was one the cities in the Caribbean being looked at for the initiative. As such he said the focus would be on the urban corridor and greater Bridgetown in terms of development and population growth. (CA)