Tag: Department of Environment
NRA clears mangroves without approval
(CNS): The National Roads Authority has said the removal of mangroves without prior approval, just days after Cayman marked World Mangrove Day, was a “misunderstanding”. The NRA said it was cleaning culverts, not clearing mangroves, at a site in West Bay, but it appears that some were removed. Now local activists are angry that, despite […]
7MB hotel gets go-ahead for 10-storey tower
(CNS): The Central Planning Authority has given conditional approval to the owners of the Westin hotel on Seven Mile Beach for a $153 million redevelopment project that includes a ten-storey tower block on its current 8.5-acre site. But given the increase in rooms, to meet the planning requirement the application by Invincible Investment includes offsite […]
Mangrove conservation more critical than ever
(CNS): Month after month, wetlands are being lost across Grand Cayman paving the way for more and more development, despite the obvious and pressing need to stop removing them and, where possible, to start to replenish what has been lost. Though they were often seen in the past simply as a mosquito-breeding swamp, there is […]
Quarry plan on edge of reserve will need EIA
(CNS): Developers wanting to dig out 2.3 million cubic yards of fill from a site on the edge of Meagre Bay Pond will need to do an environmental impact assessment if the Central Planning Authority goes against its own policy and greenlights the plan. The application is to be heard by the CPA today, but […]
DoE works with UK scientists on local biodiversity
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Department of Environment (DoE) will be leading a biodiversity strategy workshop this week in partnership with the UK’s Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) “to develop a unifying vision and strategic priorities for biodiversity in the UK Overseas Territories, including the Cayman Islands” according to a joint press release from the DoE […]
DoE and coastguard contain sinking boat
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Coast Guard and the Department of Environment have teamed up to mitigate the potential spread of fuel and oil from a sinking vessel in the Governor’s Creek area. The 76-foot Cayman Mermaid was abandoned by its owners, Mermaid Cruises, several years ago. The DoE has deployed a 400ft boom to protect […]
Sea inundation inevitable now, officials warn
(CNS): Sea level rise in the Cayman Islands is already having a significant impact on low-lying and coastal properties, and it is going to get far worse over the next 25 years, officials have warned. As the Ministry of Sustainability and Climate Resiliency begins its public meetings on the draft Climate Change Policy, the most […]
Concerns raised as ship anchors close to dive site
(CNS): The Celebrity Equinox was anchored very close to the Devil’s Grotto dive site on Thursday, and local divers and operators were concerned that it could be damaging the reef and posing a danger to anyone diving in the area. While it turned out that the ship was within the port zone, the situation nevertheless […]
CPA failed to explain ‘mitigation’ in Boggy Sand case
(CNS): The Central Planning Authority did not give an adequate explanation as to how the conditions it imposed on planning approval for the redevelopment of a seawall and cabana on Boggy Sand Beach would address the list of environmental concerns raised by the project, a lawyer argued in court this week. Chris Buttler KC represented […]
CPA decision ‘perfectly proper’, argues lawyer
(CNS): Sir Jeffrey Jowell KC told the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal Wednesday that a Central Planning Authority decision to grant planning permission for the redevelopment of a wall and a cabana on Boggy Sand Beach was “perfectly proper”. As Jowel opened the CPA’s appeal against a judicial review finding, he argued that the experts […]
Dredging NS for cheap fill ‘unjustifiable’, says DoE
(CNS): The request by a speculative developer of a potential private retirement home to dredge the North Sound seabed to get cheap fill for the project should be rejected, the Department of Environment has urged in a review of the coastal works application. Technical experts detailed the environmental disaster such dredging would cause and said […]
