Chief public Health inspector for St. Mary, Anthony Robins have raised the red flag on several business operators in the Horace Clarke Arcade and Bus Terminus who he says continue to practice improper garbage disposal methods.
This comes after months long reports coming out of the council urging the health department to take actions against the management of the Arcade who the council say have not been doing much to tackle illegal dumping in the area.
In a address to the St. Mary Parish council monthly meeting in march this year, Chairman of the St. Mary Parish Council, Richard Creary, said the council had cleaned the drains in the arcade, December of last year. He added that after visiting the area shortly after he observed that the drains were blocked with food and drink boxes and argued that he do not see why the council should be using public funds to embark on cleaning in the Arcade and Bus Terminus being that the area is no longer considered 'state owned'.
Creary added that cleaning in the area should be the responsibility of the manager and asked that the health department served a notice on the management to have them do so.
This was however refuted by the public health inspector, Anthony Robins, who claimed that notice could only be served on the individuals found in breach of public health guidelines instead of the management of the area.
Now months later, reports coming out of the health department are that operators at the Arcade and Bus Terminus have left the inspectors with no other option but to intervene with the law unless they clean up their act. Addressing this months sitting of the St. Mary parish council monthly meeting, Robins said, “We have gone back and encouraged the use of plastic bags but we are not encouraged by what we saw. This is why we have to go the route of prosecuting offenders."
However, manager of the arcade and bus terminus, Seymour Morales said most of the garbages found in the area are carried in by drains whenever it rains. He accused the council of plotting to gaine ownership of the Arcade and Bus Terminus.
Over the past months, the council and the management of the Arcade and Bus Terminus have been at odds over the ownership of the area. The council is currently waiting legal advise from the Attorney General on how to regain ownership of the area in an effort to stem traffic congestion in the parish capital, Port Maria.
