Government yesterday said works at Bailey's Bay Cricket Club have been suspended but failed to say why they were started without planning permission in the first place.

The unauthorised realignment of Coney Island Road took place in the spring of last year, with rubble was dumped on parkland at Grotto Bay.

According to an e-mail from director of Conservation Services Jack Ward to senior planner Christine Rickards on January 20, Works and Engineering Minister Derrick Burgess authorised the "illegal dumping" of excavation materials.

Ministry permanent secretary Robert Horton submitted a retroactive planning application on July 9 for the road realignment, plus temporary foreshore repairs at the north-eastern edge of the cricket club.

The foreshore stabilisation works were then withdrawn from the application and re-submitted in a 'final' application last month.

According to the planning file, the 'spoil heap' of rubble will now be removed and used as backfill in the repairs.

Yesterday a Government spokesman said: "The Ministry of Works and Engineering can confirm that work on the foreshore to the north-eastern side of Bailey's Bay cricket pitch, an area that has suffered gradual erosion over many years, commenced on March 11, 2008.

"That work was part of a wider initiative to improve amenities in the area of Bailey's Bay Cricket Club.

"However, the Ministry of Works and Engineering was advised by the then Ministry of Environment, Telecommunications and E-Commerce that planning permission was required for the work to take place. The work stopped immediately."

He said: "There was never an intention to ignore or circumvent planning requirements.

"Therefore, upon learning that planning permission was required, the Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, JP, MP, Minister of Works and Engineering, directed that the work not restart until the required planning permission had been obtained."

Mr. Burgess said in a statement: "It is my expectation that the foreshore work will improve the area considerably and limit the amount of erosion that takes place there."

However, the Minister failed to explain why work had started at Bailey's Bay Cricket Club without planning approval in the first place.

The Royal Gazette is also awaiting answers as to whether it is true that Works and Engineering staff demolished stonework dating back hundreds of years, as Mr. Ward has claimed in an e-mail to planning on September 19.