FALMOUTH, Trelawny — Efforts by Trelawny Municipal Corporation (TMC) to demolish illegal structures at Falmouth Fishing Beach are being stymied by the unwillingness of backhoe operators in the parish to take on the job due to fear of repercussion.

“We have sought to hire about eight backhoes, but they are afraid. One of them said he doesn’t want anyone to come burn down his house,” a senior TMC employee told the Jamaica Observer last Friday.

“Some pull out at the last moment,” the source added.

Mayor of Falmouth and chairman of the TMC, C Junior Gager confirmed that backhoe operators in the parish are reluctant to offer their service to destroy the illegal structures.

“We have been contacting various backhoe operators to help us. Some of them, they are sort of afraid of the impact that it might create so they are sort of shying away from it. Fortunately, we are getting one from St James that is on its way now, because this condition cannot continue to exist,” Gager told the Observer.

Last Friday the Trelawny police stood by to assist in the latest planned demolition exercise but the hired backhoe operator was a no-show.

A new date for the demolition exercise has not yet been released by TMC.

“Due process has been done; they [the informal settlers] were served with notices, et cetera. As soon as the front-end loader arrives, we are ready to assist. One was procured out of St James because everybody is afraid from this area to take on the job,” commander of Trelawny Police Division, Superintendent Winston Milton told the Observer early Friday afternoon.

TMC has charged that the illegal settlers on the fishing beach, including sex workers, are using the buildings for illegal activities while making life hell for the rest of the community.

Gager said some of the illegal settlers, who are living without formal sanitary conveniences, dispose of their waste on the grounds of the bordering Falmouth All-Age School.

Speaking at the regular monthly meeting of TMC last Thursday, the mayor also claimed that the school is constantly disturbed by loud music from its noisy neighbours, who are illegally connected to Jamaica Public Service Company lines.

“These [occupants] aren’t fishermen. Some of them are sex workers who used to roam the streets at night and occupy sections of Seaboard Street who have been removed by the the police. These are some of the night ladies who have moved in their families — and there is no bathroom facilities so they use the school,” Gager said last Friday.

“They harass the little children, [and] all sorts of complaints have been sent to the police so we just have to go ahead with this operation and make sure that the fishing beach is not a place where they are capturing and living,” added Gager.

In the meantime, principal of Falmouth All Age School Kirk Spencer has welcomed the installation of a perimeter fence which has shut out the neighbouring settlers who used to trespass on the school compound.

“They were using the area as a pass between the fishing village and here, so we do hope that it will be enough; and [we] will be installing security cameras also. So, we hope that with the fence and the security cameras it will keep persons out,” Spencer said.

He added: “I don’t have a problem with the fisherfolks but it was persons who would have moved into the area [causing the problem]. One of the things, too, the fishermen, those law-abiding persons, they offer a level of security to the school.”

A section of the recently installed perimeter fence at Falmouth All Age School