The following article was submitted by the Trinidad and Tobago Society of Planners and the Trinidad and Tobago Institute of Architects.
Our previous articles examined the glaring disparity between what the State says and does regarding consultation on planning policy, using Port of Spain as a case study.
This week, we look at the state entity that private sector planners and architects regularly interact with, the Town and Country Planning Division (TCPD). In line with the objectives of the 1960 Town and Country Planning Act (TCP Act), the TCPD is responsible for preparing plans which set out policy for the use and development of land, and granting permission to develop land.
Three statutory plans have been produced in the years since the operationalisation of the TCP Act, and numerous others that are not statutory. It is unclear if any of these plans are actually followed in practice. The resulting absence of clear, consistent, fit-for-purpose development policy at any given time contributes to massive inefficiency in the development control function of the TCPD. As professionals to whom many landowners and developers turn to take their projects through the statutory approval process, we understand firsthand the impacts of this inefficiency, which include cost overruns and, too often, cancellation of projects.
We are seeing the consequences of the north regional office (NRO) operating for months with only one dedicated urban planner; now two. This office covers county Caroni and greater Port of Spain (PoS), and has a backlog of reportedly more than 700 planning applications. It is unbelievable that this is happening in the midst of a public relations blitz about revitalising PoS, the digitisation of TCPD documents, and the registration drive for the DevelopTT system.
Continued challenges in securing planning permissions and construction permits in a timely manner do not augur well for revitalisation efforts, post pandemic recovery, or improving the ease of doing business. Applications submitted to the NRO under the highly praised online DevelopTT platform continue to suffer from what appears to be the longest processing times of all the TCPD offices, due in large part to staffing capacity and, importantly, capability. The result is that some of our members have clients who will not invest in projects in the city due to approval uncertainties.
The TCPD has recently secured cabinet approval for an update to land use regulations for PoS, which will regulate building heights, building distance from lot boundaries, residential units per lot, minimum parking requirements and more. These will play a large role in determining the ability of households and small businesses and entrepreneurs to afford decent housing and commercial space. This in turn affects commuting and general travelling distances, and our ability to curb leakage of foreign exchange and greenhouse gas emissions through reduced automobile imports and usage. Technocrats within the TCPD must take the responsibility to draft such i
