In the wake of Sunday’s flash flood that left one person dead, the government faced fresh calls to enforce planning and zoning regulations, reigniting debate over unchecked housing construction on farmland.
James Paul, chief executive officer of the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS), said he is concerned about the government’s “apparent lack of any enforcement of regulations in terms of people building in certain areas”, which he believes contributed to major flooding in parts of the island.
Paul spoke to Barbados TODAY following severe flooding in St Lucy, Speightstown and St George, during which more than nine inches (228.6 mm) fell in the space of 24 hours in multiple communities.
Paul said: “We are allowing housing in areas that clearly are natural drainage areas, natural drainage channels, and then when flooding occurs in those areas, the persons who built those houses, they are coming forward, when in truth and in fact they know that they should not build it there.”
He raised two issues with the current situation. “I think really whether or not the government cannot be held responsible because, you know, what, why are you approving persons building in these areas?” he questioned. “The other thing is that people might just not be referring to government when they’re doing these things because, you know, this whole thing about people owning a piece of the rock and all this kind of stuff. I mean, everybody can’t.”
He highlighted the impact of such development on farmers, recalling “disastrous consequences for farmers in Gibbons”.
“It’s development that occurred above the ridge… that basically caused a whole set of water to come down on farming areas, and actually it drowned a lot of crops in those areas.”
Paul underscored the importance of planning and zoning restrictions. “We do not need a repetition of things such as these because it’s saying that our planning provisions in terms of our zoning area restrictions should not be taken for granted.”
He further explained that land is preserved for specific functions. “It is not only for the quality of farming, but it’s also because of the fact that those lands that have been identified for no building also play an important role in terms of taking the water off, because, of course, these natural drainage systems, not allowing the water to go to the wells. All of this has an impact, and farmers lose a lot of crops in this way, because of a change in the drainage system, you find a situation where they get flooded out and they lose crops as a result of this.”
He said that crops such as melon and okra are particularly vulnerable.
“We need to observe the zoning practices, and this thing about allowing building in Zone 1 (water table) lands is something that we need to pay attention to.” (LG)
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