Government refused to comment yesterday on why planning permission for staff housing was removed as a condition of the Southlands Special Development Order.

Developers Southlands Ltd. applied for the ten-storey accommodation block last year, on the same date as the 497-bed resort application. The building, in Hunt's Quarry, Warwick, will contain 250 'dormitory-style' suites to house up to 500 Jumeirah Southlands staff. It is currently being considered by Planning officers.

In a letter to the Department of Planning, architects Botelho Wood state that the building will also serve as accommodation for other hotel staff on the Island. The letter says it will house "both Bermudian and non-Bermudian staff at the proposed Southlands resort and at other hotels".

"There is a definite need for the proposed housing which will go a long way to satisfying an existing shortage and offers a vast improvement on the quality of currently available housing for hotel staff," it states.

The proposed building, off Khyber Pass, will include a cafe, First Aid/health centre, laundry facilities, meeting rooms and a fitness centre.

There will also be parking spaces for 65 cars and 256 motorbikes.

Construction will involve the relocation of existing retail/warehouse facilities and industrial operations to the western side of the site. The planning application also mentions this land could be used "for further expansion of the hotel staff housing facilities".

The building would cover 15,000 sq ft and consist of 250 suites of 133,000 sq ft ¿ accommodating 375 people in 125 single rooms and 125 staff in two-person suites.

Nelson Hunt, one of the three owners of Southlands Ltd. together with Craig Christensen and Brian Duperreault, is the proprietor of Hunt's Food and Supplies. The planning application for the housing block includes "warehousing space for expansion of adjacent Hunt's Food and Supplies, or similar bulk grocery retail type use with offices".

There is however, no mention of the ten-storey housing unit in the SDO for Southlands, the details of which were published in the Official Gazette on Friday.

The only housing mentioned among the planning conditions for the South Shore resort is for the construction workers. Under section 3 (2) (k) vi of the SDO it states: "arrangements to be made for the housing and transportation of any employee brought into Bermuda during the construction of the development".

In contrast, the original draft SDO for the Southlands resort contained the following clause, 3 (2) (c), which stated: "prior to the approval of a building permit the applicant shall obtain planning permission for staff housing".

Stuart Hayward, chairman of Bermuda Environmental and Sustainability Taskforce, said: "That clause has been omitted in the final SDO, consequently there is no reference to the dormitory hotel slated for the Hunt industrial property off Khyber Pass which was previously linked to the Southlands development and must also be considered as part and parcel of the Southlands development.

"The developers must not be allowed to shield a ten-storey hotel intended to house 400 immigrant workers from planning and public scrutiny.

"If an argument being made for Southlands' approval is that the developers are providing housing for the construction and/or operational workforce, then that housing unit must pass muster and receive approval before the Southlands development itself is approved."

During the Government's television broadcast which presented the case for Southlands on July 26, neither was there any mention of the ten-storey housing unit.

In a statement, BEST said: "This is linked to the Southlands application and should require a separate Environmental Impact Assessment to examine the effect the dormitory-styled housing unit will have on traffic, social safety and amenity value for the neighbourhood."

Architects Botelho Wood have even suggested it may need an SDO. In a letter to the Planning Department, they write: "Whilst this is an ideal site to accommodate the proposed use, it does require special planning considerations because of the number of storeys and setbacks, and the application of an SDO is most appropriate."

There were six letters of objection to the planning application and although most of these addressed the resort itself, one Warwick resident claimed the staff housing unit would impact on local wildlife.

Brigitte White Brauers wrote: "I object to the construction of the block of resort housing units in the application close to the southern boundary of my property". Her letter claims the building's proximity to a woodland reserve zone means "there will be destruction of native vegetation such as Bermudan cedars and the loss of habitat for wildlife which thrives in the area".

The site of the proposed building is classed under Development Zoning 'open space' and 'residential 1' but also Conservation Zoning 'woodland reserve'.

However, in a letter to the Department of Planning, Architects Botelho Wood said: "There is no building or site work proposed on woodland or open space, or any other conservation zoning in this application.

"The site is a former quarry and is currently used for construction-related industrial purposes." The architects add that the building will be lower than the top of the quarry wall and that the site is not 'green field' and the application is therefore "in keeping with the sustainable development strategy".

The Ministry of the Environment, Telecommunications and E-Commerce did not comment on the housing application yesterday.