Whatever happened to Hanover's development plan?

SIX years ago when the Hanover Homecoming Foundation (HHF) initiated a comprehensive development plan for Hanover, the move received widespread commendation from stakeholders in the parish.

For the parish, which has a land size of roughly 430km square and a population of about 72,000, was well poised for further development, particularly in the area of tourism.

At the time there were talks, for example, about the planned construction of a major hotel at Point; the development of a marine theme park and a water park and the construction of at least two more hotels on the Negril strip, as well as plans to start a major housing development in the parish.

Understandably then, there was a great need for a development plan for Hanover, which would provide a blueprint for the parish's sociocultural, ecological and economic life.

After all, nobody would want to see developments there taking place in an ad hoc manner.

It was generally argued that such a plan would be useful for potential investors who would want to undertake, for example, tourism and agriculture projects, among others.

But less than two years after the University of Technology (UTECH) started to work on the plan -- budgeted to cost $2.3 million -- the initiative ran into difficulties.

The work on the plan, which commenced in February 2004, was to be funded by the HHF, the Hanover Parish Council, as well as the Social Economic Support Programme (SESP) of the parish's two members of parliament. It was scheduled to be completed within six months.

The HHF, it was agreed, would provide 30 per cent of the funding, the parish council 20 per cent, and MPs Barrington Gray and Ralston Anson would come up with the remainder.

But in a dramatic turn of events the HHF was told in 2006 by then chairman of the Hanover Parish Council, Mayor Lester Crooks that the council was no longer interested in collaborating with it on developing the plan because of the "attitude" of some of the association's members.

"They have been doing certain things outside of the parish council, which we are not satisfied with, so we decided that we cannot allow them to behave this way. We are doing it (the plan) on our own," the then Lucea mayor told Observer.

Nothing else was heard of the plan until 2008, when the incoming chairman Lloyd Hill, citing the need for the completion of the plan, announced that the council would be providing $10 million from its building fees to have it completed.

At that time too, he announced that it would cost roughly $20 million to be completed, and that the state-run National Housing Trust has committed funds to assist.

The HHF, Hill added, had also expressed an interest in working with the various agencies to get it ready.

But since then not much has been said about the plan.

Bearing in mind the importance of such a document, and the general feeling that the recent distractions at the council have seemingly died down, Mayor Hill needs to get cracking on the matter.

The document is too important to be treated with scant regard.

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