Environment Ministry in Supreme Court yesterday.

And they believe a decision by Chief Justice, the Hon. Sir James Astwood will now remove a "Catch 22'' defence used by the Ministry against appeals concerning planning.

Applications for sub-division of properties by GE Powell and Others and William James Howard Trott Ltd. to sub-divide properties in Bermuda were originally refused by the Development Applications Board.

The GE Powell application was for the creation of an additional 18 lots off Brighton Hill Road in Devonshire, while Trott Ltd. was for 11 additional lots on land in St. Mark's Road, Smith's.

Both developers took their appeals to the Minister of the Environment the Hon.

Ann Cartwright DeCouto, who turned them down after inspectors' reports.

Yesterday Government legal adviser Crown Counsel Mr. Phillip Holder was attempting to prevent the two appellants from getting sight of the reports, before gaining leave to appeal the refusals.

However counsel for the developers were contesting that grounds for the appeals could not be properly made without the reports.

On behalf of GE Powell, Mr. Coles Diel said that he found the action by the Attorney General, representing the Government, to be "unusual.'' Mr. Diel said: "The appellant has tried to see a copy of the report but we have been stonewalled by the Attorney General's chamber.

"It is a rather unusual approach to take out an affidavit at a point in time when my client is at a serious disadvantage.

"If the Attorney General is going to take this action then the applicant is always going to appeal without the benefit of an appointed person's report.'' The Chief Justice said that it was not satisfactory for the appellant to be refused sight of the records.

He said: "The record has to be furnished to the aggrieved person to give them the opportunity to properly give notice of appeal. Justice must be seen to be done by this court for the benefit of the whole community.'' The Chief Justice made a similar decision in the case of Trott, represented by Mr. John Barritt.

Later Mr. Barritt said: "This has been going on for years. The Ministry of the Environment has been able to shut out applicants by not giving them the reports for appeal.

"They have been unable to find out why a decision has been made and have been left having to scratch around for grounds for an appeal.

"This is an important decision because it means that the inspector, or appointed person's report, must be made available to people who are considering an appeal.''