Prison inmates could be set to work to weed out non-indigenous trees under plans unveiled by PLP leadership hopeful Terry Lister.

Mr. Lister also pledged to crack down on feral animals, in a bid to improve the Island environment, while streamlining the Planning process and encouraging renewable energy.

The former Minister of Energy set out his vision during the second in a series of town hall meetings, which attracted 30 people to St. Paul's Church Hall, in Paget, on Thursday night.

He said non-indigenous trees are "running rampant" on the Island, and explained: "I would like, come November, to get the prisoners in work crews out around the Island taking the non-indigenous trees out."

He added: "You can't pay to get that done there's too much, it would break the nation so we can address it in this way."

Mr. Lister also plans to forge ahead with placing solar panels on school rooftops and banning the importation of non energy-efficient appliances.

He wants to install smart meters in all homes within two years, so people can keep tabs on their energy use, and look into developing an offshore wind farm.

Meanwhile, he told the meeting, a crackdown would be launched on feral animals such as chickens and "those cute tiny turtles you see on the golf courses snapping at the guys who let their balls go".

He bemoaned the slow Planning process, which takes around 18 months for an application to be approved. Mr. Lister said he would speed the process up with a bar code system for applications, so people can track them online like they already can with parcels via the Post Office.

"We can do the exact same thing for Planning, and if you do that, what you will find is when your architect tells you he sent something in two months ago, you will see he never sent it in at all!" he quipped.

He would like to see normal applications processed within six months, with a fast-track "special permissions" process for renewable energy projects to get them off the ground faster.

Mr. Lister also acknowledged "another thing that really annoys people" is Special Development Orders (SDOs) being issued to get special projects approved quickly.

"When you're at the front end of the process that makes a lot of sense, but the problem is that after you have pushed it through, nothing happens on many of the projects so you're inclined to say 'what would have happened if we had just done it under the normal process and made the guy wait a month or two to get all the ducks in a row'," said Mr. Lister.

"In future, we will look at an SDO and determine that it's really necessary for some special reason and if you can't find that, it's going by the [Development Applications Board]."

He also pledged to tighten up the enforcement process and promote the enhancement and use of Bermuda's parks.

He told the meeting: "We are going to go ahead sometime soon and complete the land swap for Morgan's Point and Southlands. Southlands will become a national park and we will put walking trails in place."

Other plans to enhance the environment include placing dumpsters across the Island for those too lazy to travel to Tynes Bay, who currently dump their items wherever they feel like it.

Mr. Lister is vying for the leadership of the Progressive Labour Party with Paula Cox and Dale Butler, following Premier Ewart Brown's announcement that he will step down in October.