the House of Assembly on Friday which will place authority for the Island's parks within his Ministry.

The Department of Parks (Consequential Amendments) was read a second time and Mr. Hodgson said it was designed to correct an error by the previous Government when it moved Parks from Agriculture and Fisheries to Works and Engineering and then to Youth, Sport and Recreation in the 1990s.

"However, Mr. Speaker, in April this year it came to my attention that the previous administration had failed to amend any of the necessary legislation as Parks was moved from pillar to post,'' Mr. Hodgson explained.

"I am pleased to confirm that this Government is making the necessary changes promptly -- now that Parks is back where it belongs in the Ministry of Environment,'' he added.

Mr. Hodgson also spoke about Government's general plans for the Island's National Parks, which total 690 acres of park land and 184 acres of nature resources.

In May, three new parks were created totalling 30 acres; Abbott's Cliff, Hamilton Parish; Barnes Corner, Southampton; and Virginia Park, Sandys.

Saying the Ministry will continue a traditional approach of creating parks, Mr. Hodgson said there would also be a shift toward providing small and local open spaces which he called "parklets''.

These parklets would be found in "older, well-established and densely-populated residential neighbourhoods''.

Mr. Hodgson said he intended to use funds allocated for "open spaces'' to acquire vacant parcels of land in densely populated areas.

And with the Railway Trail now part of Parks, it can be fully developed, he said, by integrating it into the National Parks System.

"My dream is of an accessible, picturesque and continuous trail for pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders,'' he said. "A well landscaped, well maintained, trash free trail that links one end of the Island to the other.'' Mr. Hodgson added changes were already afoot for 2000 with the trail to be declared a protected area under the National Parks Act of 1986.

Small improvements to the trail network are scheduled for this year.

Opposition Leader Pamela Gordon said her party supported the moves but noted the moves from Ministry to Ministry were a by-product of a continuing battle among experts in parks between "passive and active'' use of park land.