Tag: National Conservation Council
UPM aiming to gut National Conservation Act
(CNS): The UPM government has been holding a series of closed-door meetings in recent weeks, CNS has learned, in an effort to make worrying changes to the National Conservation Law to remove the already limited powers it provides to protect the environment. The UPM wants the requirement for environmental impact assessments (EIAs) for government projects […]
Buttonwood removal case ‘complex’ and ‘unusual’
(CNS): Local attorney Ben Tonner KC told a court on Wednesday morning that he was still engaged in discussions with the crown relating to the case against his client, Bon Crepe Ltd, and its owner, James Bergstrom, who has been charged with taking a protective species in relation to buttonwood trees removed from land in […]
NCC wants input on protecting rare flowering herb
(CNS): Cayman Sage (Salvia caymanensis), a flowering herb native exclusively to Grand Cayman, was thought to have become extinct until it was rediscovered growing in the road verge on the Queen’s Highway in 2007. Now, because of its precarious existence, the National Conservation Council has begun a public consultation on a proposed species conservation plan […]
NCC in new CPA battle over blues threat
(CNS): The National Conservation Council appears set for another courtroom battle with the Central Planning Authority over after-the-fact planning permission granted for land clearing and a road cutting through land in East End that is home to Cayman’s endemic, critically endangered blue iguana. The CPA did not refer the application by Bon Crepe Ltd to […]
CPA sends mangrove condo proposal to NCC
(CNS): A controversial application for 95 apartments on very low-lying wetlands off Willie Farrington Drive in West Bay has been formally referred by the Central Planning Authority to the National Conservation Council. However, the NCC has already submitted its comments on the environmental issues with 20 North Development, pointing out that it is seasonally flooded […]
NCC seeks to protect endangered wild herb
(CNS): The National Conservation Council is about to begin a public consultation on a conservation plan for Cayman sage (Salvia caymanensis) to restore a self-sustaining population in the wild and to help with cultivating the plant to protect its genetic diversity. This critically endangered species was believed to be extinct until 2007, when it was […]
UPM mulls changes to conservation law as CPA and DoE face off
(CNS): The United People’s Movement caucus is understood to be planning changes to the National Conservation Act due to pressure from developers and others over false claims that the law, the National Conservation Council and the Department of Environment are stifling development. This comes after the Central Planning Authority has, once again, falsely claimed that […]
MPs mislead the country about conservation law
(CNS): The National Conservation Act was targeted by several MPs in parliament over the course of the Finance Committee hearings last week, some of whom misled the public and other members of the House by suggesting, incorrectly, that it has hampered development. Some MPs, including McKeeva Bush (WBW) and Chris Saunders (BTW), as well as […]
Conservation law marks 10yrs as MPs attack environmentalists
(CNS): Wednesday was the tenth anniversary of the National Conservation Act passing into law, despite the continuing opposition to the legislation and the misrepresentation of how it has impacted development. With former premier Wayne Panton, the architect of the law, laid up after breaking his ribs, there has been no one in parliament this week […]
NRA’s hydro reports hold up EIA for EWA highway
(CNS): A critical report that will inform the design of the controversial East-West Arterial extension is the only thing holding up the environmental impact assessment for the road. Despite accusations from Cabinet members, including the minister responsible for roads, that the Department of Environment and the need for a full EIA were delaying the start […]
Appeal court knocks back CPA’s Privy Council bid
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Court of Appeal has rejected an application by the Central Planning Authority to take the controversial ‘Boggy Sand Cabana’ case to the Privy Council. But the government v. government courtroom battle that pitched the CPA and the National Conservation Council against each other on the public purse’s dime is probably not […]
