Government could face a judicial review over its decision to allow further development at the Tucker’s Point resort.Sustainability advocacy organisation Bermuda Environmental and Sustainability Taskforce says it is mulling judicial review of the controversial Tucker’s Point Club Special Development Order.“In the interest of accountability, the decision to grant approval in principle to the Tucker’s Point Club via an SDO should be made the subject of a Judicial Review. BEST is giving this step serious consideration,” the organisation said in a statement yesterday.BEST reiterated arguments raised by the Ombudsman in her special report on SDOs and says that, as subordinate legislation, SDOs can be subject to judicial review.Among the Ombudsman’s findings is that Government should have conducted an environmental impact assessment before granting in-principle approval for the Tucker’s Point SDO.The Ombudsman argued that as a signatory to the UK Environmental Charter, Government had acted unlawfully by not conducting an EIA.“The Environment Charter is more than a mere bilateral commitment between Bermuda and the UK. The UK is a signatory to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity 1972 and the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development.“By signing on to that 1972 Convention, the UK Government has contracted to uphold the relevant international laws and, by extension, also committed its Overseas Territories, of which Bermuda is part, to abide by the tenets of that Convention,” reads the BEST statement.“It therefore seems fair to conclude that, by granting the TPC SDO in principle without conducting a credible EIA, the Bermuda Government not only failed to uphold its contractual obligation but also breached international law.”The statement continues: “We are convinced that an overwhelming weight of local, UK and international law requires that, for a development application that is likely to have significant adverse impact on the environment, an EIA is to be conducted prior to the grant of an SDO. This is especially true in the case with the Tucker’s Point SDO”.The Tucker’s Point SDO was tabled in the House of Assembly in early 2011, sparking outrage from environmental and historical groups, who objected to the hotel’s plan to build an additional 78 private residents and 70 hotel rooms.MPs approved the order in March after much public debate. But when it went to the Senate, Government halted the debate after nearly four hours, ensuring a vote could not be taken.A revised SDO, reducing the area of proposed development, was approved later the same month.The Ombudsman issued a report of her own motion investigation into the process for Special Development Orders in February this year, and gave the Government until May 1 to respond to its recommendations.The 88-page report, Today’s Choices Tomorrow’s Costs, faults civil servants for a “collective failure of due diligence” over the Tucker’s Point SDO and recommends a review of international obligations that bind Bermuda and EIAs for all major developments.Environment Minister Marc Bean promised that Government would respond fully to the Ombudsman by the May 1 deadline.But he criticised the Ombudsman for entering “what is essentially a political process that has a proven track record of resolving issues of national concern within a democratic framework”.He said there were “numerous assessments” done before the submission of the Tucker’s Point SDO to Parliament and conservation officers were comfortable that the additional conditions in the order were “sufficient to protect the environment and mitigate any adverse impact”.