A majority of Legislative Assembly members voted Wednesday to oppose a challenge to the powers of the Cayman Islands National Trust that would have weakened the Trust’s ability to protect land it owns for historical, cultural or environmental purposes.
In a private members motion on Wednesday, North Side MLA Ezzard Miller sought to subject all Trust designations that protected land be made “inalienable” to the ultimate approval of lawmakers. Currently, the Trust’s board of directors alone can make such a designation and can only reverse it by a two-thirds vote of the 11-person governing body.
Mr. Miller argued that the Trust, since its formation in 1987, had gone well beyond its remit in buying up land, particularly in the district of North Side.
“In the view of many of the persons that I am elected to represent … the National Trust has become the evil empire that many of us who were here in 1987 were concerned that it would become,” Mr. Miller said. “The National Trust was not intended to be a body that would go out and solicit to purchase people’s land.”
Mr. Miller said the designation of vast tracts of land in North Side as “inalienable” not only prevented developing that property, but also precluded Caymanians from using the land for “heritage purposes,” such as farming, making thatch rope, retrieving mahogany and ironwood to build houses and boats, hunting rabbits and crabs, and the like.
“Far too great a percentage of my constituency has now become National Trust property and those heritage acts can no longer be enjoyed,” Mr. Miller said.
Section 18 of the National Trust Law says a person who takes or attempts to take any wildlife on Trust property, starts a fire on Trust property [except where fires are permitted], removes any artifact from any Trust property or defaces any Trust property is guilty of an offense punishable on conviction of up to $5,000 in fines and one year imprisonment.
In some cases, North Siders who own land in areas adjacent to Trust property have found they can’t develop that land because they can’t obtain a right of way to reach their land, Mr. Miller said.
Environment Minister Wayne Panton said the National Trust Law sets out clearly the organization’s purposes and gives it no special powers – such as those of compulsory acquisition given to the government – in obtaining or purchasing private land.
“The only limitation we have in terms of ownership of land and the ability to buy land in this country is that foreign companies have to be registered in Cayman as a foreign company in order to acquire land,” Mr. Panton said. “That has been one of the features essential to the success of Cayman.”
Mr. Panton quoted the original presenter of the National Trust Bill, Sir Vassel Johnson, from the Legislative Assembly Hansards in 1987: ”A national trust is said to be synonymous with preservation of a country’s heritage and thus the reason why it is so appealing and it is so acceptable in most countries in the world. We find that in the Cayman Islands our own homeland, there are many things that we need to preserve.”
During his debate in 1987, Sir Vassel did express a cautionary note – highlighted by Mr. Miller – that the government had to ensure the operations of the Trust did not accumulate so much land and power that it could eventually challenge government. Mr. Miller said, in his view, that happened earlier this year during the debate over the East-West Arterial Road extension through the center of Grand Cayman, where the Trust succeeded in convincing government to change an already gazetted route of the road extension.
“The National Trust does not have the power to take someone’s land,” Minister Panton said. “This land that the National Trust owns in the district of North Side is land which anyone, any individual, any investor could have purchased in the Cayman Islands.
“The Trust does not have any superior position in relation to land ownership than any other person or non-governmental body. [Residents] can sell their land to anybody else if they want to, but not the National Trust, is that what [Mr. Miller] is saying?
“I don’t know what this evil empire is that has unrestricted powers … and the government can’t do anything about it. It is not reflected in the National Trust Law. It is not reflected in the actions of the National Trust to date,” he said.
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The National trust was supposed to preserve our heritage : such as schools ,houses,churches. Why land why only swampland? Why not beach? How much beach land has the National Trust been given or bought? Why not? We have more history about our beaches all over the Cayman Islands. We got ghost crabs , turtles, sea birds, conchs, lobsters . But last, but not least people , Thousands of people use beaches not swamp. Over 2/3 of Grand Cayman is swamp. If we save 10% that should be more then enough. The sea will rise in the future, It is inevitable. We will need fill to raise this island above the rising sea.
People should be able to maintain their cultural heritage ( crabbing , soldier crabs etc)
At one time we were told that the west indian duck was extinct. Of course the cry was man killed them all. Today their numbers are climbing. What happened ? How did they come back? Did the National Trust or some environmentalist group grow them?
I believe Mr. Willy brought in foreign ducks and fed them in his pond and they finally found food .
We need to stick with what Sir Vassel and Mr. Jim Bodden said. No to land