Western Bureau:

The Ramble Community Development Committee (CDC) has suspended its legal challenge to prevent burials at the controversial Royale Rest Cemetery in Burnt Ground, Hanover, and is now pursuing a negotiated settlement through Health Minister Rudyard Spencer.

"We have instructed our lawyers about the new direction we are now taking," said Ambleton Wray, the chairman of the Ramble CDC. "We have since indicated to the minister (Spencer) by letter that we want him to handle the matter on our behalf."

NO probing questions

When Minister Spencer visited the Burnt Ground area recently, at the invitation of residents of the 30 communities surrounding the cemetery, he flatly refused to answer any probing questions, citing the application filed in the Supreme Court by the Ramble CDC seeking leave for a judicial review to challenge the environmental impact assessment (EIA) submitted by the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), which resulted in a permit being granted for use of the land as a cemetery.

"If you want me to deal with it (the cemetery issue) then you know what you will have to do," Minister Spencer told the residents at the time, hinting that he would be willing to pursue a negotiated settlement if the court action was withdrawn.

"Based on the public assurances we got from Minister Spencer, we have decided to give him a chance to handle the matter," noted Wray. "We intend to hold him at his words as we continue to hope for the best."

The residents of the 30 communities and several noted experts on hydrogeology have flatly rejected the EIA report done by Dr Ravidya Burrowes, which was presented to Minister Spencer by NEPA in January, which formed the basis for the permission Delapenha Funeral Home got to start burying bodies at the controversial cemetery.

Using roadblocks and other means of protest, the residents have managed to thwart several attempts by the Delapenha Funeral Home to bury bodies at Royale Rest.

adrian.frater@gleanerjm.com