The head of the Bermuda National Trust has welcomed a Government initiative to examine ways of compensating landowners who do not develop on their property.

Government announced plans to set up a commission to establish a method of making it attractive for owners to retain acreage as open spaces or as public parks.

Bermuda National Trust director Amanda Outerbridge welcomed the move, claiming that the current zoning legislation offered no incentive to landowners to keep their property undeveloped.

"For many years we have been concerned about the issue of compensation for loss of development rights on private property,'' Ms Outerbridge said.

"It is a complex issue and we welcome the new minister's pledge to investigate it further in order to come up with the solution best suited to Bermuda.

"At present there are no economic incentives for property owners to retain protective zonings on their land. In fact, if they do retain such protective zonings they end up diminishing their property value.

"At the same time they increase the value of their neighbours' properties by offering the amenity of, for example, undevelopable woodland next door.

Development is therefore rewarded and conservation is penalised. Some 15 years ago the trustees became concerned about the compensation issue as it was clear that the 1983 development plan was going to raise problems in this regard.

"A number of other countries dedicate funds raised through taxes on development and property sales, either to the purchase of open space or compensation of landowners for the loss of development rights.

"Another option is flexible tax categories. New Hampshire has a system of very low tax for existing use of property. A landowner wishing to develop pays considerable higher taxes.

"There are three ways to approach this issue. Land purchase, where the Government could buy property with conservation zoning. This is clearly not practical for all such property but we believe there should be a strategic plan to insure that Government purchases all such land needed for public parks, in addition to protecting certain wildlife habitats to maintain our ecological balance.

"With the purchase of development rights Government would compensate the owner of the property by buying the development rights on a certain area, enabling the landowner to retain the zoned use. This would be particularly appropriate for arable land.''