Clearing at the site of controversial development near Castle Harbour complies with Planning Department licences, the Environment Minister said yesterday.

The Hon. Tim Smith admitted that there had been some violations of the licences at Bermuda Properties Ltd.'s Ship's Hill site -- but he said they were within reasonable grounds given the nature of the equipment being used.

Mr. Smith said a report and photograph in The Royal Gazette on Monday which exposed violations of Planning restrictions at the Castle Harbour site had "exaggerated'' the extent and impact of the clearance work, which he inspected with Director of Planning Mr. Brian Rowlinson yesterday.

The woodland hill is the proposed site of a 37-condominium, cycle livery and shopping complex proposed by owners of the land, Bermuda Properties Ltd.

Mr. Smith said "some degree of latitude'' should be allowed to the developers because of the nature of the terrain and the "difficulty of precise work'' with the type of machinery needed.

"In the main I am satisfied that the alignment and the extent of the clearing carried out complies with the licences issued by the Department of Planning,'' he said.

But chairman of the Bermuda National Trust's Environmental Committee Mr. Tim Marshall yesterday said the report was not exaggerated and that the Minister had missed the point.

The real issue, he said, was whether the Director of Planning had the authority to grant an excavation licence at all.

A special development order issued by former Environment Minister Mr. Gerald Simons on July 14 granting planning permission in principle for the project, listed a number of "reserved matters'' for the Development Applications Board only to decide before granting final planning approval. They included siting of any buildings, design and layout of access and parking areas and a landscape scheme.

The order also made an environmental impact statement and a survey of the Church Cave system underneath Ship's Hill conditions for final planning approval by the Board.

But Mr. Marshall questioned why the Planning Director appeared to have more power than the Minister by ignoring these conditions and granting excavation licences before they had been fulfilled.

"This licence clearly violates the clear language of the development order of the Minister's predecessor,'' he said.

While Mr. Smith said in his statement yesterday that the developers had taken extra care to avoid cedars and palm trees, he admitted cleared paths exceeded ten feet in places and that a healthy cedar tree had received damage which he deemed "minor''.

But Mr. Marshall accused the Minister of condoning licence violations. "The whole message is so forgiving of the developer. It is sending the wrong message by saying we forgive you for exceeding the width and doing unauthorised excavation. It says, `don't bother to follow restrictions or legislation or kill a cedar tree because you will be forgiven by the Minister'.'' He added that the "pathways'' requested by the developers under the guise of carrying out a cave and environmental impact study and for which an excavation licence was granted by the Planning Director restricting them to ten feet, appeared to resemble roads as shown on plans submitted by BPL.

"Are they there for what they were intended for or part of plans as roadways?'' Mr. Marshall asked.

If so, he claimed there was no point in the former Minister requesting a landscaping scheme for the design and layout of access and parking areas and environmental impact study to be completed first.

Worst of all, Mr. Marshall said, the developers had violated legislation protecting caves by damaging a cave entrance during clearing.

"Why isn't the Minister concerned about that?'' he demanded. "This is a grave violation and the Department of Planning should be looking into it with more vigour than the Minister is suggesting.'' Mr. Smith said other clearing in the area had also taken place involving the removal of scrub vegetation from old landfill dump sites and a further two areas to become part of the re-designed golf course.

But again Mr. Marshall claimed the Minister was sending out the wrong message.

"By condoning the clearing of scrub vegetation from old landfill sites, he is sending out the message: `Don't worry about fulfilling the strict terms of the licence. If the land appears low quality, it doesn't matter what you do.' That sends a poor message to the community.'' However, Mr. Smith said he had stressed to Bermuda Properties the importance of adhering to all of the conditions of their licences, adding he would continue to monitor the project closely and welcomed public scrutiny of planning files.

Editorial: Page 4 clearing of "paths'' for an environmental study including an extensive cave survey. Bermuda's caves are protected under the 1974 Development and Planning Act.