I am a resident of Santa Cruz and I am very concerned about the intended destruction of our beautiful, serene environment for the development of the British Academy school.
As far as I am aware, there has been no consultation with the residents of Santa Cruz as to what a school of this magnitude will have on the environment, the residents and the traffic. There is no proper infrastructure in place. The Government of the day preaches about wanting to preserve the environment but yet the wanton destruction continues.
How is allowing British Academy to build their school here in Santa Cruz preserving the environment? How is cutting down trees and destroying the natural habitat of the birds and animals to put up a large concrete structure, "preserving" the environment? Where is the "planning" in that? Also, how is British Academy benefiting the residents of Santa Cruz?
The traffic that passes through here on a morning is horrendous. If you don't leave here by 5:50 am, you are in trouble. The Santa Cruz traffic merges with the Maraval traffic and you are stuck. Ever since Mr Franklin Khan, the then Minister of Works in the PNM, got the brilliant idea to destroy the naturally-formed tunnel that separated the Santa Cruz valley from Maraval, the traffic situation has been a nightmare.
Now the Government wants to give permission to British Academy to just come in and destroy our beautiful valley, a valley that many think is "so far." So what is the plan to drop off their children? The plan is to bus them in. My goodness, we who live here in Santa Cruz will have to endure massive trucks and tractors on these tiny winding roads that are already in deplorable condition if this school is given the permission to come in here.
The problem is that permission is given to build without consultation or proper planning.
Take for example Maraval...if proper planning had gone into the development of Maraval, there wouldn't be all this fuss about which schools are causing traffic, because if one took the time to look around one would see that there are many other structures around that are not schools and are operating without adequate parking facilities, and so in true Trini style, we park on the side of the road and don't give a care about anyone else.
And let's not start with the communities that are allowed to block public roads so that the general public are not allowed to drive through.So my question is: why doesn't the Government give land to British Academy in Chaguaramas instead of allowing them to come into Santa Cruz to destroy our lovely valley? People of Santa Cruz, we have got to wake up before it is too late and we end up as another overpopulated valley with the loss of our beautiful, misty, peaceful, serene mornings.
Adele Elliot Gilbert
Concerned Santa Cruz resident