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VIPP misleading public on port project risks
6th March 2020(CNS): The Environmental Assessment Board (EAB) said claims by the consortium that was chosen to build the controversial cruise project about the reduced environmental harm of this current design are misleading and the new plans may be just as damaging, or even more so, than those from 2015. The EAB has said Verdant Isle Port Partners must conduct an updated environmental impact assessment and a number of other important studies because much has changed and new risks and challenges have emerged.
Updated EIA required for port project
5th March 2020The Environmental Assessment Board has concluded that a new environmental impact assessment will be required for government’s $200 million cruise berthing and cargo enhancement project.The board gave the recommendation at the end of its review of the updated scoping opinion on the project submitted by Verdant Isle Port Partners in January.
Judge orders port referendum law quashed
2nd March 2020(CNS): The Cayman Islands Government has been ordered to quash the referendum law it passed to pave the way for the people’s vote on the cruise port project. Justice Tim Owen, who had found that the legislation was incompatible with the constitution, said in his latest ruling on the remedy following the judicial review that if the court did not quash the law, it would be complicit in a “legal fiction” and it had to be done to remove any doubt about its illegality.
Port referendum question ‘tweaked’
8th January 2020Government has amended the question it plans to use for the referendum on its proposed $200 million cruise berthing and cargo project. However, Cruise Port Referendum Cayman representatives, the grassroots group behind the petition that triggered the vote, said the new wording still falls short of addressing concerns that have been raised in the judicial review filed by CPR member Shirley Roulstone. The changes to the wording of the question were made in the regulations that accompany the Referendum Law that was passed in the Legislative Assembly to pave the way for the vote on the project.
New referendum question gazetted
7th January 2020Government has made an amendment to the referendum question it plans to ask voters when a new date is set for the national poll on the proposed cruise berthing project. The change was gazetted quietly on 18 December, with no statements or explanations about the alteration to the wording. A spokesperson for the Cruise Port Referendum campaign said they were not consulted on the revision to the question, even though it is one of the grounds for the judicial review brought by one of its members.
CPR activist secures court protection
6th January 2020Cruise Port Referendum activist Shirley Roulstone, who is challenging how government has gone about setting the referendum in the courts, has secured another important victory. Lawyers for Roulstone confirmed Monday that the chief justice had ruled in favour of a protective costs order, which will protect Roulstone from government should the court rule against her in the public interest judicial review of the referendum process and the need to ensure it is fair.
CPR Offcial Correspondence
Press Release
02 July, 2020On Thursday 2 July 2020, the Court of Appeal issued its decision setting aside the earlier decision of Justice Tim Owen Q.C., Acting Judge of the Grand Court, in which he ruled that the law enacted by Government to establish the process and procedure for the conduct of the referendum on the proposed cruise ship berthing facility was unconstitutional.
Institutional Statements
CCMI Urges Close Look at Downstream and Long-Lasting Impacts to the Island
12 September, 2019The Central Caribbean Marine Institute has released a new statement regarding the proposed George Town Dock on Grand Cayman and the need for serious consideration of the potential impacts it may have to Seven Mile Beach.
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