building on open space -- could accelerate development, a planning consultant said yesterday.

The new plan might trigger a rush to build -- "even if it means simply pouring concrete and building a few walls'', claimed Mr. David Summers, president of Bermuda-Caribbean Engineering Consultants Limited.

"This could have a horrendous effect on the landscape,'' he said.

He told members of Hamilton lions at their weekly luncheon that while people have permission to build on their land under the old development plan, if that permission expires and they re-apply, they might not get it again.

Mr. Summers said it was not fair that Government had some five years to come up with the new plan, but gave residents just two months to object to it.

And he appealed to Environment Minister the Hon. Ann Cartwright DeCouto to "significantly extend'' the objection period because the 90-page document will "affect all of Bermuda''.

"If this Government is a caring Government -- and we certainly keep hearing it is -- then it will give the people of Bermuda a longer period to object than just two months,'' he said.

Mr. Summers, a Bermudian, said the new plan should be renamed "Bermuda's Backyard Development Plan'' because it focuses in "great detail'' on the Island's land.

He urged people to study the plan and see what it means to them.

"If you think the development plan does not affect you, think again,'' he warned.

"If you have land set aside for retirement or to give to your children; You may find you can't even mow the grass on the property without the express consent from Planning and the (Environment) Minister.

"It may not have been Government's intention to take away property owner's rights, but my God it has.'' He noted development plans had gotten progressively stricter since the first one in 1968, with Government chopping and changing the rules in each one.'' He said development on ridges was allowed in 1968, banned in 1974 and allowed again in 1983.

In closing, he asked: "If the development plan is this restrictive now, where will be in the year 2000?'' Mr. David Summers.