Former Permanent Secretary of the Environment Sen. Walwyn Hughes yesterday called for a ?re-jig? of the responsibilities of the Departments of Environmental Protection and Conservation Services, saying the restructured departments had not yet found their roles.

The Ministry of the Environment was restructured into the two departments last year, but Sen. Hughes said their functions were not clearly defined.

?These two Departments are still looking for their true value and meaning,? the Independent Senator said. ?It?s time to re-jig the responsibilities in the two departments so they can fit better?.

Sustainable Development was a hugely important concept, he added, but he often had no idea which Department was doing what.

?I don?t quite think they have found what their roles are,? he said. ?There is a lot of crossover. It is hard to wrap my mind around their assignments and responsibilities?.

Sen. Hughes also lamented the increase in illegal developments in Bermuda.

?It is easier to ask forgiveness than permission,? he said.

He said the problem of illegal development had always existed, but was now worse as it was happening on the Island?s few remaining open spaces.

Enforcement lay with the Planning Department, which he conceded had not been very effective when he oversaw it as Permanent Secretary.

However, he said it was less effective now, because of the increased pressure of development.

He said the community needed to go to war against people who went in and destroyed open spaces, then turned around and said: ?Oh that was woodland? What can I do about it??

Once the damage was done nothing could fix it, he said.

Sen. Burrows was asked by the Opposition whether Paul Rodrigues of Rodrigues Trucking and Excavating had been penalised for covering the entrance to a cave at Anchorage Lane, Ferry Reach last year. Sen. Burrows said the site was zoned industrial so the clearing was not illegal.

He said the status of the site was not known because no one from Planning was present at Cabinet.

But the Acting Permanent Secretary of the Environment, Tom Sleeter, who was in Cabinet yesterday, said he did not know the status of Anchorage Lane.

Sen. Swan said if Environmental Protection wanted to find its niche, it should clean up Morgan?s Point. And he called the ?golden handshake? from the US to clean up the former baselands, ?an affront at best?.

Government should lead the way by building sewage treatment plants in their developments, he said. But Government only built a sewage pump at the second senior school.

Sen. Swan said Pit bull terriers needed to be better restrained as a number of elderly citizens felt like hostages in their own neighbourhoods.

During the Government?s presentation of the Ministry?s finances, Sen. Burrows said Bermuda?s lifeguards carried out 243 rescues in 2004. The lifeguards were going to receive additional funding of $20,000 in order for them to operate at an optimal level, he said.

There was a ten percent increase in camping last year, he said. During the Cup Match holiday last year, 35 tonnes of trash was removed from Bermuda?s parks.

?The increased number of abandoned cycles and furniture is a concern to the Department of Parks,? he said. ?People will dump illegally, but we ask people to take their trash to the dump to keep the rest of the Island in a clean and tidy condition.?

While Park Rangers did their best to combat the rising level of illegal dumping, he said the power to effect real change would be amendments to the Summary Offences Act.

He appealed to the public to show respect for Bermuda?s parks and open spaces by taking care of them.

And Government hoped to renovate the grade one listed, Second World War-era ballroom at Admiralty House in Pembroke, he said. But other facilities at the park were considered dangerous eyesores.