A civil servant has suggested the Minister of Works and Engineering acted arbitrarily in authorising the "illegal dumping" of excavation materials on parkland.

Director of Conservation Services Jack Ward, told a senior planner that Works and Engineering officers were not at fault for the dumping of rubble at Grotto Bay. He said it was something "their Minister did without their knowledge or support".

Mr. Ward made the claim in an e-mail to Development Control senior planner Christine Rickards on January 20. The e-mail was in reply as to whether any foreshore protection works had yet taken place at Bailey's Bay Cricket Club, and whether a 'retroactive' planning application was now appropriate.

Mr. Ward said that as no work had yet been undertaken, a 'retroactive' application was unnecessary.

He told Ms Rickards: "Other than the illegal dumping that has happened at the north west end of this area, no work has been done.

"I still don't think it is reasonable to consider this as retroactive. I say that while knowing full well that the dumping that was done there is actually tied to this project. However, they are going to have to pull that material out and use it as backfill in this project."

Mr. Ward added: "It hasn't helped them get this project done and W and E officers did not direct this dumping (their Minister did without their knowledge or support) (sic)."

The Royal Gazette asked Government for comment yesterday on the allegation against Works and Engineering Minister Derrick Burgess. We received no response by press time last night.

The dumped material Mr. Ward refers to appears to be fill from works to realign Coney Island Road – undertaken in the spring of last year without any planning permission. The rubble sits at the head of a small bay zoned as parkland.

On January 16, consultant structural engineer Sean Smeltzer of Works and Engineering, e-mailed Trevor Leach at the Environment Ministry to say: "Unfortunately, an unauthorised and unsightly spoil heap consisting of excavated material has been formed at the head of the small bay, destroying any ecological or amenity value it might have had."

The rubble will now be removed and used as backfill in repairs to the foreshore at Bailey's Bay Cricket Club.

An application for 'final' planning permission for temporary repairs to the foreshore by the Ministry of Works and Engineering was advertised in the Official Gazette on January 23.

In the planning file, Mr. Smeltzer says the work is needed as existing protection against storm surge "has suffered gradual erosion over many years".

He says the work is only temporary and "a low-cost solution until such time as either funding is available for more robust remediation, or a storm causes damage that requires further repair work".

The work involves excavating a trench to be filled with boulders on the seaward side plus an additional row on the landward side. Backfill is to be placed in between, with a capping layer of smaller interlocking boulders.