The Opposition have criticised a Minister's selection of his sister to a planning committee as "a conflict of interest".

This newspaper last week revealed Environment Minister Glenn Blakeney had appointed his sister to the Development Applications Board (DAB).

Mr. Blakeney confirmed Beverley Samuels was a relative, but said his sister had "expressed a sincere interest in making an invaluable civic contribution".

"It was solely my appointment and I certainly make no apologies for it," he told The Royal Gazette. "Ms Samuels is a Bermudian with more than 20 years in the travel industry. She was appointed to the DAB as a lay person to represent the interests of the Bermuda community in making decisions on planning applications."

The 11 new members of the DAB were announced in the Official Gazette last month. The committee's role is to decide which public and private planning applications should get the go-ahead, following consultation with various Government departments.

Ms Samuels did not wish to comment on her appointment yesterday. However, Shadow Environment Minister Cole Simons criticised Mr. Blakeney's judgment, calling on him to reconsider the position out of a "conflict of interest".

"We consider this a conflict of interest a conflict with the public interest," said Mr. Simons.

"We say that because we believe the public wants Government agencies such as the DAB to decide issues on their merit, without fear or favour.

"By appointing his sister to the DAB, the Minister is undermining that role, certainly in appearance if not in reality.

"Anytime a Minister of a government appoints a relative to an agency of that government, people must ask why.

"The Minister's judgment and his intentions must also be questioned. The Minister, if he cared about avoiding the appearance of a conflict, did not have to make the appointment."

The UBP MP said: "One of the basic rules of good governance is if something doesn't look good or doesn't feel good you avoid it. The Environment Minister did not do that in this instance and it sends a very poor signal to the community.

"We believe the Minister needs to go out of his way to show commitment to a higher standard of governance. We say: Reconsider the appointment. Do the right thing."