A decision by Environment Minister Neletha Butterfield (pictured) to allow a “powerful and politically influential” church to build a two-storey car park was last night branded “scandalous” by the Opposition.

Shadow Environment Minister Cole Simons and UBP Pembroke Central election candidate Austin Warner claimed in a joint statement that Ms Butterfield’s approval of the plan from the First Church of God on North Shore Road, Pembroke, was the result of a “political backroom deal”. “We would like to express our outrage over this latest, most scandalous manoeuvring by Environment Minister Neletha Butterfield to circumvent her own rules for planning applications in order to kow-tow to the powerful and politically influential First Church of God leader,” said the statement.

“About 70 families resident in that area objected to the Bishop’s application to build a two-storey parking lot for his congregation. Anyone who has ever been to the First Church of God will understand why.

“It was always a crowded area but expansion of the church has turned it into a kind of development nightmare. This parking building will make an already poor situation very, very much worse. We believe there has been a political backroom deal to give Bishop Lambe his parking garage.”

The Reverend Bishop Vernon Lambe — former head of the Bermuda Independence Commission — first applied to build the car park two years ago but nearby residents, many from Crane Lane, objected. The proposal was rejected twice by the Development Applications Board but Mr. Lambe has now won approval from the Minister on appeal. Mr. Simons and Mr. Warner alleged that Ms Butterfield “simply waved her hand” and approved the plan on the second appeal with out any independent assessment. They said it was “highly unusual” for her not to bring in an outside planning inspector when there was so much opposition.

The Royal Gazette quoted Government MP Nelson Bascome last Thursday as saying that the church had made some last-minute concessions to the plan, which was why permission was given. The UBP statement said that if that was correct, the Minister could have broken the law. “The Development and Planning Act requires that she make her decision based on the application as submitted.

“If, during the process, the application is amended, the objectors must by law be permitted to see those amendments.”

The UBP politicians added: “We believe that with this second application the Minister felt she had little choice in this matter. Her hands were tied by an understanding made with Bishop Lambe at some time between the first application and the second, by someone in a position to tell the Minister what to do.

“We believe the Brown Government has no difficulty thumbing their noses at the 70 families who objected to the scheme because it believes that district is a safe seat.

“The Brown Government believes that with Bishop Lambe’s help, any negativity created by running roughshod over his neighbours can be cancelled out and the party can tuck that particular election into their bag. We don’t think they should be counting those chickens yet. There has been a big change in attitude in this country.

“We think that what the citizens of this country want is a clean, honest government that really believes in the equality of its citizens. We think what the citizens of this country want is an end to this twisted backroom deal-making which gives some fortunate people a huge and completely undemocratic advantage over the rest of us.”

Neither Ms Butterfield nor Mr. Lambe could be contacted for comment.