State minister with responsibility for local government, Robert Montague (second left), has the attention of (from left) Mayor of Spanish Town Andrew Wheatley, St Ann councillor Lydia Richards, Mayor of Portmore Keith Hinds, Mayor of Mandeville Brenda Ramsay and Mayor of May Pen Milton Brown. They were attending Monday's Editors' Forum at the Gleaner on North Sreet, Kingston. - Norman Grindley/Deputy Chief Photographer

Manpower shortage is impeding the island's parish councils from effectively policing developments.

Speaking at a Gleaner Editors' Forum Monday, Mayor of Mandeville Brenda Ramsay, who also heads the Manchester Parish Council, admitted that councils "do not have enough officers to monitor developments."

May Pen's Mayor, Milton Brown, said that "the fear factor is there, don't you ever forget that and we don't have the personnel available to us."

Bitter complaints

Homeowners, for example, have complained bitterly about the establishment of shops, garages and other businesses in areas that have been zoned for residential dwellings.

Mayor Brown said that the national building code, which is expected to come on stream shortly, may help in setting standards for developments.

"We are hoping that we will be able to have more people following the new building code," he emphasised.

Robert Montague, state minister with responsibility for local government, told the Editors' Forum that "the parish council, as an institution, has the capacity and the capability to man and police the new code."

The new code will replace existing individual parish council codes and will also speak to the need for an application to take down buildings as well as to erect them.

Mayor Ramsay noted that said Jamaica never will have enough persons to monitor developments because of the pace at which developments are taking place. She said that government should go the route of technology to help monitor the developments.

Kingston and St Andrew has six building officers who monitor developments in the two parishes. For St Catherine, there are five officers.