The Tribune

By KEILE CAMPBELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

THE government is targetting four major roadside garages and scrap metal operations for removal from residential communities, including Strachan’s Auto and a nearby Farrington Road scrap metal facility, Environment Minister Zane Lightbourne said yesterday.

Mr Lightbourne said officials have already met the owner of Strachan’s Auto and are looking at several other businesses as part of a renewed push to move vehicle storage and repair operations out of neighbourhoods and onto Crown land in Carmichael.

He said the initiative involves several government agencies and is intended to address environmental and public safety concerns linked to vehicle storage and repair businesses operating in communities.

He said officials were expected to meet this week as work on the relocation plan continues.

Mr Lightbourne said the government wants the new location properly equipped before businesses are moved there.

"We do not want the liquids from the cars going into any of the wetland areas in the nearby vicinity where we have identified and we want to make sure that the necessary infrastructure in terms of roads and electricity and running water are there so that we can have a proper facility for these types of businesses," he said.

The relocation effort began before Mr Lightbourne became minister. Former Environment and Natural Resources Minister Vaughn Miller previously said several major roadside garages along Joe Farrington Road, Soldier Road and Augusta Street had agreed in principle to relocate.

At the time, officials said Crown land had been identified and an inter-ministerial committee was working with business owners on a transition plan.

Mr Lightbourne said the government also plans to strengthen environmental enforcement through spot fines in the upcoming budget.

"The spot fines are going to be heavy enough to cause persons to deter from their behaviour," he said. "We were mindful not to make them where people just do not care and they do not feel it."

Mr Lightbourne said the fines would support a national clean-up campaign involving schools, churches, civic organisations and non-governmental organisations.

"It is going to be about putting trash in bins, about not dumping bulky waste in nearby bushes and neighbourhoods and using the transfer station," Mr Lightbourne said. "So this national campaign will include all stakeholders in the country and we are excited to roll that out very soon, right after the budget."