Legal showdown looming
A LEGAL battle is looming between the purported owner of a property at Windsor Castle in West Portland and two staterun agencies – the Portland Municipal Corporation and the National Works Agency (NWA) – over who the land belongs to.
The row, which developed among the parties, stems from a decision by the woman who claims to own the property, to demolish a restaurant, a bus stop, a ‘Welcome to Windsor’ sign, along with a sign bearing the name of Windsor Castle Primary School on Saturday into Sunday.
Residents are claiming that the demolished building and signs have been at that location at the Windsor Castle Square, for more than 30 years, but that since the arrival of the woman from overseas, things have taken a turn for the worse as, according to them, her approach towards them is nothing short of hostile.
“I have been operating a restaurant at Windsor Square for more than 20 years, which is an existing family business spanning more than 40 years,” Orville Walker, a restaurant owner, told The Gleaner on Tuesday.
“What this lady did, she took me to court. This land is owned by either the parish council (municipal corporation) or the NWA. In court she had diagram and everything and I didn’t have anything. So the court did not listen to me. My next step is waiting on the parish council or the NWA and the member of parliament (MP). The MP has assured us that the land is owned by Government, so we are awaiting their intervention,” he concluded.
Daryl Vaz is the MP for West Portland.
FOUND TO BE IN BREACH
In a release issued on Tuesday afternoon, Vaz, who is also a minister of government, said the landowner is encroaching on government land and that the municipal corporation and the NWA did their inspection on Monday and she was found to be in breach.
“The person (landowner) i s in breach of the approvals and has also been told to cease work and a stop order will be placed and served on the owner of the property today,” Vaz said yesterday.
“I am following up this matter. I have also advised the police and I have also advised the equipment owner that his equipment is working on an illegal site. So, I will be following it up to make sure that the stop order is placed and that all work stops there permanently until such time as the matter of the boundaries is resolved. As it stands now, she is encroaching on government land, which is against the law.”
The Gleaner sought to get a response from the landowner, but was unsuccessful, as it was said that she had left the island early Tuesday morning.
In the meantime, residents are also expressing concern that the digging up of the land space at the edge of the main thoroughfare poses a serious threat to students. The students now have to stand in the roadway to get a minibus or taxi to take them to school, due to the walkway (sidewalk) being dug up.
It is against that background that the residents, i ncluding Audrajade Lester, Omar James, and Walker, who staged a peaceful protest yesterday, are demanding justice for the community. They said they were calling for the authorities to have the walkway restored so that students can at least stand in a safe zone when seeking public transport to get to school, until the matter of land ownership is resolved.