Poor turnout by residents in the Eccles community saw the public consultation on the Haags Bosch sanitary landfill being rescheduled, as those present complained that adequate notice was not given.
Seven residents turned up for the consultation and they voiced their concerns to the Ministry of Local Government representative. They urged the ministry to ensure that the community is properly communicated with and in a timely manner. One resident said he only learnt about the meeting because there was a request to use the school.
Another resident said the meeting was properly advertised. Gordon Gilkes, Project Manager for the Georgetown Solid Waste Management Programme, argued that there were two notices published in several newspapers over the last two weeks asking for submissions and also indicating the time of the consultation.
Minister of Local Govern-ment Norman Whittaker told the gathering that the ministry did try to put it in the public purview. “We may need to go beyond that. We get complaints weekly on different issues and the representation here does not reflect that. The next occasion we will be able to get fruitful discussion,” he said.
A representative from BK International said the company was ignorant of why it was summoned. “We got a letter on May 24.
We had no information about why the hearing was scheduled. We would also like to know which documents would be discussed and it would also be useful if there is a prescribed agenda,” he said.
Stan Gonsalves Exp Services Inc Consultant said the rescheduling was necessary because it would be an insufficient programme if they were to go ahead without proper representation of residents.
In the end, all the stakeholders and residents agreed to use other mediums such as a PA system and hand bills to get the information across and the next scheduled consultation is June 17.
