MANDEVILLE, Manchester – Mayor of Mandeville Donovan Mitchell says the municipal corporation will be going after illegal construction, roadside garages, unapproved businesses, and the proliferation of car marts in this south-central town.

Mitchell, in addressing the first monthly meeting of the municipal corporation for 2023 last Thursday, warned that drastic enforcement would start in Manchester soon.

“The number of buildings that are going up without approval within the parish, we are not going to be sitting by here in this council [and don’t act]. We have some persons who are trying all sort of rigmarole and all of that, [and saying], ‘Bwoy, poor people.’ Some of these houses poor people can’t build them; that’s nonsense,” he said.

Mitchell told councillors that he will be taking a zero-tolerance approach and they should not ask for any favours for anyone found in breach.

“We are going to be engaging a team of persons that will be doing community by community, street by street, divisions by divisions, and let me say to the councillors, if you have any friends that are doing such, talk to them now because we don’t want when we are doing the work no councillor come and seh, ‘Bwoy, dah man yah a mi likkle fren,’ or whatever it is, ‘so if yuh can ease him up,'” Mitchell warned.

“It cannot be business as usual. The problem you have is that some of these persons are blocking the drains – the natural soakaway areas. If you apply, I know that when the officers go out there they will tell you that the house can’t be here, it has to be somewhere else. When all of this happens. The next person they call is to say that the place is being flooded and the road is mashing up,” he added.

The mayor pointed out that commercial activities in unauthorised zones will be served notices.

“Persons are suddenly transforming residential areas, whether for restaurants or for bars, and I will tell you, I am not afraid of anybody. The matter on West Road, there is an area there I see converted into a restaurant, where I am getting some complaints. We have served stop and enforcement notices. Those are areas where the covenant of the title does not permit to have that sort of businesses within those communities,” he said.

“If that needs to be done, the law tells you how to do it, that you have to go to the Supreme Court to change the covenant on the title. It is going to be zero tolerance,” he added.

People, he said, have been complaining about unauthorised businesses in residential areas.

“Because people tell you all sorts of things, [that] dem trying to help poor people. Poor people can’t buy food for $2,000 and $3,000… it can’t be business as usual. If I don’t do [anything] in the next couple days or weeks for this political term, then I’m going to make sure that these things are upheld. There are too many complaints about what is happening in this town centre,” said Mitchell.

He said, too, that operators of roadside garages were inconsiderate as they have been obstructing traffic.

“These auto repair shops are being placed on the parochial roads without any thought about the [motorists] travelling along these roads. Sometimes they block off one whole length of road,” he said.

Councillor Iceval Brown (Jamaica Labour Party, Grove Town Division) and Councillor Jones Oliphant (People’s National Party, Mandeville Division) complained about building material also obstructing traffic and putting motorists in danger.

“When they draw material they put it on the roadside. There was an accident in Cross Keys recently because the marl was actually in the road,” said Brown.

Oliphant pointed to construction material impeding traffic on the outskirts of the town centre.

“Right now in the community of Rosedale there is a big blockage of boulders on the roadside,” he said.

Councillor Mario Mitchell (PNP, Bellefield Division) urged the mayor to also prioritise the removal of illegal stalls on main roads.

“The number of illegal shops that we see coming up on the roadsides is of concern to me. There is one being put up now on the Content Road… Vendors [normally start] with a table then they move up to a tent, then they move up to the plyboard and the zinc. The roadways are looking a little bit untidy,” he said.

The mayor said that the proliferation of car marts was also on the radar of the municipality.

Car marts, which are popular in Mandeville and its environs, have been rapidly increasing on lands adjacent to the Winston Jones Highway to Spur Tree Hill main road over the years.

A police source told the Jamaica Observer recently that there are 96 car marts in the Mandeville policing area.