fp Turks and Caicos

The government is about to release a second version of the Crown Land Allocation Register for the Turks and Caicos Islands, and the updated information, already released in draft form to the Consultative Forum, is raising a lot of eyebrows.

The updated registry shows the names and amounts paid by all those who received a conditional purchase lease or freehold title in the national parks.

In the case of Chalk Sound National Park, 80 parcels were distributed for residential use in parcels ranging in size from 0.32 acres to 1.3 acres. The average price paid per parcel was $8,674. According to government figures, one parcel was sold for only $3,000 and very few parcels were sold in excess of $10,000.

Jon Llewellyn, Crown land advisor to the governor who has spent the past eight months organizing the registry, said the land valuations were just one of the problems related to Crown distribution.

Residents who were granted land in the national park had their planning permissions revoked in September 2009 after the interim government moved forward with a plan to relocate those owners. This set off a flurry of debate, which brought the issue to light.

According to Llewellyn, the Galmo Williams administration had recognized the problem in 2009 and through an agreed Cabinet course of action decided to begin offering relocation plans to those who had received parcels in the national parks. The governor concurred with the plan, but the Williams administration was stopped short when the Constitution was suspended in August 2009.

Llewellyn said the interim government continued on this path, which began by revoking all planning permissions in park land. There are currently five structures already completed.

The department has been working to find alternate parcels to offer those affected, but Llewellyn says it has been a challenging task given the limited number of parcels still available on the island of Providenciales.

Parcels have been identified, and Llewellyn says they are about to send out letters of offer to the individuals affected. However, he notes the process has been complicated by the call of the Consultative Forum on Tuesday to look into the circumstances surrounding the allocation of the land.

Llewellyn says according to his information, the Ministry of Natural Resources staff was aware that the land was located in the national park, but they were instructed by former Minister of Natural Resources McAllister Henchell to move forward with the allocation of the land and forward it to the governor’s office.

Llewellyn says the documents received by the governor made no mention of the parcels being located within national park boundaries. “The governor’s office places the responsibility to undertake appropriate due dilligence with ministry,” he said. “In this instance, this did not occur.”

With no indication that the land was located in a protected area, Llewellyn says the governor — either former Gov. Richard Tauwhare or Gov. Gordon Wetherell — or the acting or deputy governor executed the leases and grants.

“From the face of the documents, there was no reason to doubt the legitimacy of the transfer. The effect of that is to create the situation we have today,” Llewellyn said.

He pointed out that the former government was supposed to be publishing Crown land allocation lists and maps to show the public where Crown land was being allocated and to whom, but that never happened until last week when it was posted on government Web site www.tcilandinfo.tc. The Web site offers a complete registry of Crown land grants and maps of all islands showing what Crown land is left for development.

Equivalent parcels will now be offered, Llewellyn explained, but he noted that the offers will be elective. “There will be no forced relocations,” he says. “They will have six months to decided, so there is no undue pressure.”

Llewellyn added that the government is hoping to draw a line under the unfortunate practices of the past and move forward in a positive and constructive way.

Crown land in Chalk Sound National Park

• 80 parcels of land distributed for residential use
• Parcels ranged in size from 0.32 acres to 1.3 acres
• Average price paid for a parcel was $8,674
• Example: 1.08 acres was sold for $8,001