UDC to work with Trelawny Parish Council to structure town

No. 55 Wednesday, February 17, 2010
With all the development poised for the Falmouth and more so Trelawny on a whole it now looks like the Urban Development Corporation will be stepping in to aid in the direction of the projects so as to give the town and parish some structure.

   This news recently surfaced in an interview with Jamaica Labour Party Caretaker for Trelawny North, Senator Dennis Meadows, who explained the move was done on the back of the major developments coming to the parish.
   He lauds and welcomes the move by UDC on the instructions of the Prime Minister to have Falmouth be declared as Designated Area in accordance with the UDC Act, 1968 due to the background of an absence of a martial development plan for the Greater Falmouth area.
   He said with the many development earmarked and currently being undertaken there is the sore problem of urban migration which, if not managed, will result in many social ills. He further explained that the Prime Minister is adamant that Falmouth does not follow the route of Montego Bay which has become plagued with squatting and other unregulated settlements. The JLP Caretaker asserts that the UDC intervention is relevant and timely as there is pervasive squatting within Falmouth and its environs which needs to be cauterized.
   Under the Act, the Prime Minister as the responsible Minister if he is satisfied, after consultation with any local authority
which appears to him to be concerned, that it is expedient in the national interest that any area be developed by the UDC as an urban area, hour may make an order designating that area for the purpose of the Act.
   The UDC at the moment is forming a committee to oversee its involvement in the project and have approached the local Parish Council to work in conjunction with them to ensure that the Greater Falmouth Development Plan is established in a structured manner.
   Mayor Colin Gager, chairman of the Trelawny Parish Council, explained that the council is supporting the move and expect to swiftly organize the partnership with the UDC. He explained that the Council has long been searching for an arm of support and was in consultation with the Tourism Product Development Company, but was glad when the UDC stepped in. This he explains will now provide funds for needed infrastructure work such as roads, drains and buildings to match the development that is set for the town and parish. In 1995 the need for a development plan for Greater Falmouth was envisaged by the Trelawny Parish Council and other local based groups to achieve the protection of sensitive ecology of the town from urban development and the architectural integrity of the Town which was declare a National Historic District in 1995. It 2000, the town was further upgraded to a resort town as they saw the potential that the town had offer with most investments currently coming on stream.