UDC serves notices on squatters

SQUATTERS ON Urban Development Corporation (UDC) land, along the beachfront from Seafort to Halfmoon Bay, Hellshire, St. Catherine, have been served with quit notices.

Operators of the 16 illegal structures were given a week to leave the area last Friday and were warned that failure to do so would result in their forced removal.

In a statement yesterday, the UDC said the notices do not relate to the Halfmoon Bay fishermen with whom it is in dialogue for the development of the area.

"It must be noted that the area on which the structures have been erected is an environmentally sensitive area which has become severely stressed as a result of encroachment and erosion over the years," the UDC said.

The Corporation said, "unregulated intrusion of human and vehicular traffic, coupled with the illegal construction of structures have resulted in a loss of vegetation on the beach front." This, had led to wind erosion.

The UDC said the unrestricted use of the beach front also has implications for the disposal of solid waste and the loss of mangrove which is essential to the protection of the narrow strip of beach.

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