Premier Paula Cox must ensure that any Cabinet discussion on controversial planning decisions taken by former Environment Minister Walter Roban, should take place in the absence of the Ministers directly involved, says the One Bermuda Alliance.“It has been seven weeks, now, since the new Minister responsible for Planning, Marc Bean, said he would review Walter Roban’s controversial decisions to grant permission to his colleagues, Zane DeSilva and Wayne Furbert to go ahead with building schemes that had been refused by Planning’s technical experts,” said Shadow Infrastructure Minister Michael Fahy.“Nothing seems to have happened since. The Minister did say he would let the public know when a decision was made.“But he was obviously not at all happy about being handed this hot potato to deal with during his first days in the Environment, Planning and Infrastructure Strategy seat.“The official Government line is that ex-Minister Roban did nothing wrong when he granted the appeals against Planning refusal on his own, the day before he was due to give the portfolio up, but that he had made a technical mistake which voided his decision.“However, the public believes what the pressure group BEST (Bermuda Environmental Sustainability Taskforce) has charged, that ex-Minister Roban “subverted“ the system by doing what he did when he did, and believes he acted that way because the people making the appeals were his Cabinet colleagues.”The statement calls upon Minister Bean to “reject the appeals and follow the advice of the independent planning inspector”.“The reason for the delay, we suspect, is that Minister Bean is taking this hot potato to Cabinet to get advice from the Premier and Ministers, and taking his time about doing it, because he hopes the more time that passes, the more the public will forget.“If that is what is happening, we sincerely hope and trust the Premier will see to it that Messrs DeSilva and Furbert disqualify themselves from taking part in the discussion, and we hope and trust that the Cabinet will put Bermuda first in making their decision, and reject the appeals.“That is the course of action that will be best for Bermuda’s environment, and best for public perception of how free the political process is from corruption.”Questions were raised about the propriety of Mr Roban upholding appeals in planning applications in which Ministers Zane DeSilva and Wayne Furbert had an interest.Mr Roban made the controversial decisions on his last day in charge of the Environment Ministry.Following the controversy, Mr Roban resigned his cabinet post saying he had no regrets about approving the appeals, but regretted the decisions bringing accusations of corruption upon the Government.Mr DeSilva’s plan, which proposed the construction of warehouses on Devonshire Marsh, was rejected by technical officers due to significant discrepancies and insufficient information about the environmental impact of the project.An appeal was launched in March, but the Planning Inspectorate recommended the appeal be dismissed.Mr Furbert’s proposal to build two additional lots next to his home was been rejected by the Development Applications Board because the land was marked as an agricultural reserve. An appeal was launched in April.The then Minister, Walter Roban, upheld both appeals.Last night, a spokesperson for the Environment Ministry issued this statement when asked for an update on the progress of the promised review and the Minister’s reaction to the OBA statement: “The matter is being processed and at the appointed time the Ministry will give comment but currently there is no comment.”Both Ministers DeSilva and Furbert were contacted for comment. Minister DeSilva did not respond by presstime. Minister Furbert declined to comment.