The Ministry of Works and Engineering is appealing a refusal by planning officials of roadworks at Bailey's Bay Cricket Club.

The realignment of Coney Island Road and dumping of landfill at Grotto Bay was undertaken last spring without planning permission.

The Development Applications Board (DAB) then refused a retroactive application in November, expressing its "disappointment with the applicant's (Ministry of Works and Engineering) disregard for the planning process".

The project aimed to expand Bailey's Bay Cricket Club, but in impinging on national parkland and coastal reserve was contrary to the Draft Bermuda Plan 2008, according to the DAB.

In an e-mail to a senior planner, Director of Conservation Services Jack Ward blamed Works and Engineering Minister Derrick Burgess for the "illegal dumping" of rubble and excavation materials in Grotto Bay.

Mr. Ward said: "W and E officers did not direct this dumping (their Minister did without their knowledge or support) (sic)."

The DAB however, has approved a recent Ministry application for improvements to the cricket club in the form of the excavation of 3,800 sq ft of land and an 8 ft chain link fence.

The excavation work is needed to expand the pitch, by levelling an area currently 4-8 ft higher in the south-east corner by Ducks Puddle Park.

The fence, along the western side of Coney Island Road on the boundary with Wilkinson Memorial Park, is to "provide more security and control to the playing field".

The DAB however stipulates a separate building permit is needed and that protective fencing 4 ft high must be placed on the northern boundary, to protect a Coastal Reserve Conservation area. All excavated materials must also be removed from the site.

The Board said: "The proposed excavation works are not expected to have a detrimental impact to the natural or visual qualities of the area or to Ducks Puddle Park."

In January, it also approved a planning application for temporary repairs to the foreshore protection, at the edge of the pitch at Grotto Bay.

In this latest application, the Board said "all usable excavated material will be utilised for the foreshore repair work that received Board approval on 20 January, 2009".

The foreshore repairs are needed against potential storm damage. Temporary repairs however, are only possible until further funding becomes available the cost of a fully hurricane-proof revetment would cost more than $6 million.

In a letter to Planning, Ministry consultant structural engineer Sean Smeltzer said: "The foreshore in the area subject to the application has been eroding since it was formed, and is vulnerable to a direct hit from a hurricane or storm."

He said the "illegally dumped soil" from the roadworks last spring could be utilised as backfill. "The small bay formed where the foreshore meets the causeway of Coney Island Road was filled with illegally dumped soil. As stated in the application, the proposals utilise this spoil as backfill material, thus removing the unsightly spoil heap."

Despite an objection to Planning from the Bermuda National Trust, the foreshore protection works were given the go-ahead. But the Board stipulated: "The existing rubble and fill pile located adjacent to the Coney Island Bridge shall be removed and utilised for the project as indicated in the application."

The letter from the Bermuda National Trust argued the situation over the retroactive roadworks should be finalised before any more construction in the area.

"Our concern is that this site is subject to an active complaint which we feel should be resolved prior to the consideration of this, and any further planning applications for the area," said the Trust.

It said the dumping of fill material had resulted in "a detrimental impact on the physical and environmental characteristics of the area and caused detrimental damage to the biological and ecological features of the marine and coastal environment".

The letter stated: "The Bermuda National Trust asks that, in as much as is possible, remediation of the damage be required of the applicant.

"This site is designated as a Coastal Reserve. We do not feel that it is a reasonable justification that as a result of the destruction, by a previous development, of any ecological and amenity value that the affected area may have had, that the zoning Coastal Reserve not be considered.

"Therefore we submit that this application does not comply with Ch. 16 Objectives COR (1), (2) and Section COR 8. of the Draft Bermuda Plan 2008."