will affect development on the Island.

Mr. David Somers said that new development was being impeded by the expected availability of property on the bases.

But Government planner Mr. Peter Adwick denied that the soon-to-be-vacant land was considered when the 1992 Bermuda Plan was drawn up.

The Bermuda Plan provides guidelines for all developers by zoning parts of the Island under different titles such as residential, woodland, open space and nature reserve.

An objections tribunal was set up last April to look at complaints about zonings in the plan. There were originally more than 1,000 objections but many have been resolved before going to the tribunal, which has dealt with around 400.

At Friday's tribunal Mr. Somers spoke as agent for Mr. J.C. Astwood, regarding a 4.5 acre parcel of land off West Side Road in Sandys.

The planning department has zoned the land rural to "reflect the general character of the area''.

In the report of the Director of Planning it stated: "A Rural Development Zone provides a limited amount of development potential but is intended to retain the rural, open character of less densely developed areas of Bermuda.

"This is particularly important in this part of Somerset which is otherwise densely developed.'' It stated that the primary aims of the '92 Plan were to conserve open space, to promote a high quality environment and to provide sufficient development potential to meet the community's housing needs.

It added: "The Plan has designated more than sufficient land to meet housing development needs for the foreseeable future.

"The extensive areas of land already committed to development, which includes land in the objector's ownership, and the surplus of developable land illustrate that there is no need to release additional land for development.'' Mr. Somers said he found the statement unreasonable when it was applied to a "little corner of Bermuda''.

"The Bermuda Government should not accept the statement because it ponders the future of the US and Canadian bases,'' he said. "It is a specious argument.'' Mr. Adwick argued: "The run-down of the bases was not an issue when the plans were being prepared.

"What we tried to do in 1992 was relate development needs to the amount of land availability. This was not done in the 1983 Plan.

"All we are saying is that we should use up the lots already committed before committing other lots.

"Let's look at Bermuda's total interests first before committing more land to development.'' Mr. Somers replied: "Mr. Adwick says that we should not commit any more land for development, but I will be interested to see if that philosophy is applied for the Canadian Forces Base.'' Tribunal member Mr. Peter Smith stepped into the argument, stating that the bases should be disregarded because they were not part of the debate. Mr.

Somers stressed that much of the site in question was formerly a quarry and was perfect land for development.

He asked that the planning department's selectivity should be investigated. He added that many of the Island's registered lots had been adversely affected by the zoning in the Bermuda Plan. "We must look at what is the basis for this selectivity,'' he said.

Admitting that some lots had been adversely affected by environmental analyses, Mr. Adwick said much of that had been discussed.

"That is a small percentage of the 1,000 objections received. It is quite untrue to say that most of the registered lots have been adversely affected by the zoning.'' Tribunal Chairman Mr. Jack Lightbourn said a decision would be made about the West Side Road site in April.