A SERIES of six islandwide consultations have been held on Jamaica’s Draft National Spatial Plan (NSP) and key stakeholders have been providing input on the draft document over the past six weeks.
The plan – which mainstreams climate change – is scheduled for finalisation next month.
The consultations, which started in early January, have been organised by the Adaptation Programme and Financing Mechanism (AP&FM) for the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience.
They have been targeting key stakeholders at the local government level, including the municipal council of all the parishes. The consultation were scheduled as follows:
– Wednesday, January 15 – the Spanish Court Hotel in Kingston, which included participants from the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation, the Portmore Municipal Corporation and St Catherine;
– Friday, January 17 – the Knutsford Court hotel in Kingston, which included participants from Portland, St Thomas and St Mary;
– Tuesday, January 21 – Villa Sonate in St Ann, which included participants from St Ann and Trelawny;
– Friday, January 24 – Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston, which included participants from Clarendon and St Elizabeth;
Tuesday, January 28 – Oasis Hotel in Negril, including participants from Westmoreland, Hanover and Trelawny; and
Friday, January 31 – Deja Hotel in St James, including participants from St James and Manchester.
“The input that has been provided by the stakeholders so far has been very valuable. We will include as much of the feedback as possible into the final draft. It is good that some of the municipal corporations have begun to think about how they will help implement the National Spatial Plan and how it will relate to their Parish Development Plans,” said Dr Winsome Townsend, project manager for the AP&FM Project, which focuses on integrating climate change issues into development planning.
AP&FM also provides funds for climate change adaptation work in small and medium businesses, as well as communities. The AP&FM project is being implemented by the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation through funding from the Inter-American Development Bank.
CONTENTS OF THE DRAFT
The draft NSP is an eight-chapter document compiled from research and consultations that started in April 2018. The most recent draft of the document covers:
1. Introduction
2. The Planning Context
3. Legislative and Institutional Framework
4. Settlements – Rural and Urban Development
5. Public Utilities Infrastructure
6. Social Amenities Infrastructure
7. Major Economic Sectors – Industries
8. National Spatial Planning Policies and Strategies.
The consultations included the National Environment and Planning Agency, the Rural Agricultural Development Authority, the Housing Association of Jamaica, the Urban Development Corporation, as well as other entities.
Spatial planning refers to the various approaches used by the government and non-government stakeholders to influence the distribution of people and activities in spaces of various scale. An NSP is important to the sustainable development of and use of a country’s resources.