A Progressive Labour Party MP has urged Devonshire residents angry at plans for more housing on their estate to defy his Government.

At a press conference last week, Housing Minister Terry Lister said the flat roofs at Mary Victoria Road in Prospect could be built upon.

To large applause at a meeting of around 100 residents last night however, MP Glen Blakeney said: "So he puts it on the table. Without consultation? Yes. Wrong? Yes. Will there be more houses up there? No.

"If you are here when you need to be here and you say no, it will be no."

Mr. Blakeney said he was planning to meet Mr. Lister tomorrow and told the meeting he didn't like being blindsided.

He told The Royal Gazette afterwards that he had first known there was going to be a housing press conference the day before it happened and only on the day Mr. Lister announced his plans did Mr. Blakeney know the full details for his constituents.

He said: "I think I would have been better served knowing before."

The Devonshire North Central MP said he would pass on the sentiments of his constituents to Mr. Lister tomorrow and they would get their own chance to voice their views.

He urged the residents to form an action group to formulate concerns about the neighbourhood.

However, Mr. Lister said last night he hoped Government's effort to deal with the Island's housing problems would not constantly be met by the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) brigade.

"The issue is whether to have housing in Bermuda," he told The Royal Gazette.

At the Mary Victoria Road meeting residents raised other issues including the state of the playground in which the meeting was conducted, as well as roads and trash.

However many feared the area would become a ghetto as Government put up more housing.

One said Government picked on the estate because it was hidden away.

Mr. Lister said the Bermuda Housing Corporation property was zoned for 249 residential units but currently there were only 169 or 70 percent of what was possible.

He said 34 extra units would add another 14 percent. "We are still well beneath the 249 in the development plan."

The Housing Corporation was sensitive to people's frustrations and concerns said Mr. Lister, but he wanted people to understand what the Government was trying to do.

"At the end of the day this is about housing our brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles."

He agreed Mr. Blakeney had not been fully briefed before the announcement.

Asked if this was the correct protocol Mr. Lister said: "Whether he's going to be briefed up front - we make the decisions on an ongoing basis in the housing corporation."