Tag: National Conservation Council
NCC confirms need for EIA on Dart PAD
(CNS): The application by the islands’ largest landowner and property developer for a 157-acre planned area development (PAD) in West Bay, which is expected to go before the Central Planning Authority in the near future, will require an environmental impact assessment (EIA) before approval. The National Conservation Council has ratified the Department of Environment’s recommendation […]
Controversial West Bay projects rejected
(CNS): Two applications for projects that have raised concern in the West Bay district were both rejected by the Central Planning Authority this week. An application to tear down a failing cabana and sea wall and replace it with a house on Boggy Sand Beach and an application for a condo resort on North West […]
NCC directs CPA to reject Boggy Sand house plan
(CNS): The National Conservation Council has made a rare move to direct the Central Planning Authority to reject an almost unbelievable application for a house along Boggy Sand Beach, which the CPA is due to hear this week, after experts pointed out that there are absolutely no mitigating measures that could be deployed to make […]
E-W Road poses major flood and eco-threats
(CNS): An environmental impact assessment on the East-West Arterial is critical, according to information revealed in a scoping document by the Department of Environment. Government’s plan to build the road from Woodland Drive to Lookout Gardens poses a major flood risk for residents, threatens the very future of the Central Mangrove Wetlands and, in turn, […]
Fired NRA boss gets seat on NCC
(CNS): Cabinet has now gazetted the new National Conservation Council after the situation came to a head this week when there was no NCC in place to submit comment on a major Dart hotel project before the Central Planning Authority. McFarlane Connolly has been reappointed as chairman and new members include Paul Parchment, who was […]
Dart’s hotel to go before CPA with no DoE input
(CNS): Hotel Indigo, which will anchor Dart’s proposed ‘new town’, will be before the Central Planning Authority (CPA) on Tuesday as a separate application, but it will not have any input from the Department of Environment because no new National Conservation Council (NCC) members have been appointed. The project comes against the backdrop of public […]
Plan afoot to save extremely rare plant
(CNS): The critically endangered Aegiphila caymanensis is a woody, clambering shrub with soft, downy leaves that is unique to Grand Cayman and so rare that it has no common name and until recently was believed to be growing only in two places on the island. The National Conservation Council has drafted a species conservation plan […]
NCC and DoE urge move to green economy
(CNS): As Cayman emerges from the social and economic shutdown in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, local environmental experts are urging government to make it a “truly sustainable economic recovery” and use this opportunity to reset. Cayman needs to turn away from traffic-gridlock, over development and mass tourism towards climate-sensitive and resilient systems, according […]
Mangrove protection official
(CNS): Cayman’s mangroves now have official legal protection, which should, finally, prevent these dwindling yet critically important species from being removed by developers without consequence. On Monday, the National Conservation Council gazetted the adoption of a Species Conservation Plan, which formalises mangrove protection in law and outlines the very strict conditions under which they can […]
Plan devised for key pond habitat
(CNS): The National Conservation Council has approved a much needed conservation plan for Meagre Bay Pond, one of Cayman’s oldest protected areas. The conservation law provides for management plans to protect important habitat and allow public access. Meagre Bay is in need of help to restore the water quality and the surrounding black mangrove forest, […]
Turtle farm keeps lid on reports
(CNS): Following significant public support for the Department of Environment’s turtle conservation plan, the National Conservation Council has ratified the proposal and sent it to Cabinet for approval. But while the public was fully behind the plan, the Cayman Turtle Centre (CTC) has been less than supportive and refused to share critical data with the […]
