|
Planning and Disaster Relief
The mandate of the
Saint James Parish Council is to promote sustainable social,
physical and environmental development and to facilitate the
economic and financial viability of the Parish and the Council.
The Council works to facilitate the orderly development of
land through ensuring that the public adheres to all development
regulations. The
Planning Unit and the Roads & Works Department are the primary
executing bodies for Parish Council planning related matters.
Activities associated with disaster management are dealt with at
the parish level through a Parish Disaster Committee, which operates
out of the Parish Council's office. Please
click here for the Disaster Relief Unit.
The Planning and
Disaster Relief Department web pages aim to inform the public of our
areas of responsibility. We offer instruction on how to obtain
subdivision approval, planning statistics, links to planning and
disaster relief-related sites and maps of St. James and Montego
Bay.
An
important goal of the planning department is to provide orderly
development within the parish.
Random and haphazard development does not take into
consideration the health and security of a community.
Rules and regulations are critical to ensure that communities
have access to water, electricity and waste water facilities; roads
need to be laid out so that traffic is properly controlled;
buildings must be strong to withstand earthquakes and other natural
disasters.
Montego Bay is one of the fastest growing cities in the
Caribbean, and these issues have never been more vital to the well
being of our community.
Working in conjunction with the National Environment & Planning Agency (NEPA), the Parish Council strives to shape our city
in the healthiest way possible.
Legislation
guiding the Planning Unit and the Physical Planning and Environment
Committee includes the following:
| Building
Act |
Parochial
Markets Act |
| Building
Code |
Places
of Amusement Act |
| Control
of Advertisement Regulations |
Pound
Act |
| Development
Order |
Preservation
of Trees Regulations |
| Land
Surveyors Act |
Public
Cemetery Management Act |
| Litter
Act |
Public
Health Act |
| Local
Improvements Act |
Registration
of Titles Act |
| National
Land Policy |
Town
and Communities Act |
| National
Physical Plan |
Town
and Country Planning Act |
| Natural
Resource Conservation Act |
Town
Nuisances Prevention Act |
| Parish
Council Act |
Water
Supply Act |
| Parish
Councils Building Act |
|
Acts are available for a fee at the Jamaica Printing Service Ltd,
77½ Duke Street, 967-2250 or 948-4951.
| Subdivisions 1996-2001 |
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
2001 |
| Number |
35 |
40 |
38 |
27 |
45 |
41 |
| Maximum Number of Lots(per Subdivision) |
73 |
164 |
162 |
40 |
13 |
19 |
Average time taken to process a subdivision application
| Year |
Time(days) |
Shortest Time |
Longest Time |
| 2000 |
382 |
252 |
529 |
| 1999 |
637 |
205 |
928 |
| 1998 |
681 |
208 |
1078 |
| 1997 |
1107 |
202 |
1590 |
The Parish Councils and
the Ministry of Local Government are working to reduce the time
taken for processing subdivision applications.
As the table above shows, since 1997 the time taken to
process applications has dropped by 65%.
If you don't see what you're looking for, search
the site.
|
