Island Construction was forced by the Bermuda National Trust [BNT] to give up land it had leased for years because of the political affiliation of its principal, Health Minister Zane DeSilva, according to the Minister.The BNT has refuted the allegation, saying that it wanted to return the site at Devonshire Marsh to green space for purely environmental reasons. Director Jennifer Gray said she is “upset that anyone would suggest that my or the Trust’s passion for our environment could be fouled with political adversity”.The issue first emerged on Wednesday, when Progressive Labour Party deputy leader Derrick Burgess claimed in a speech that the BNT had tried to “destroy” Mr DeSilva’s business. He did not elaborate.In an e-mailed response yesterday to a request for comment, Mr DeSilva indicated that Mr Burgess had been referring to land adjacent to the company’s headquarters near the marsh at Middle Road, Devonshire, for which the BNT asked for an increase in rent.“It is true that after over a 20-year relationship with the Trust and occupying the property for over 40 years, we now have no option but to relinquish an area of land that we leased from the Trust over this period,” he wrote.“The area of land was a former rubbish dump and my company used the land for storing materials and parking vehicles. We had to relinquish the land because soon after I joined the PLP we received notification from the Trust that they intended to increase the rent by 650 percent.”He said the BNT did not budge from its position despite “protracted negotiations”.“I had to relinquish the land because my company simply could not afford an increase of that magnitude and I was committed to keeping my employees at work, not paying exorbitant rent to the Trust.“After all, I doubt that any other landlord in Bermuda has sought a 650 percent increase in rent during these harsh economic times. I have to believe that the motives of the Trust were not simply commercial and I strongly suspect that they were political.“This is a shame because the Trust is an organisation that I have always supported and they do wonderful work in the community but at the same time it is very disappointing that an organisation formed for the right reasons has seemingly acted for the wrong reasons.“I have to move on and put this situation down to experience. However, it has given me even more motivation to work to repair and unify our community in the hope that politics and ethnicity do not permeate every aspect of our lives.”In January this year, Ms Gray told this newspaper that Island Construction had been leasing the property, but that lease was ending. The BNT wanted the land to be returned as public open space, she said then.Plans to build warehouses in the area on land occupied by Island Construction had been rejected by the Planning Department but controversially approved on appeal by Walter Roban on his last day as Minister for Environment, Planning and Infrastructure Strategy.Last night, Ms Gray said: “As a passionate environmentalist I can take personal responsibility for driving the decision of the Council of the Bermuda National Trust toward returning this site in Devonshire Marsh to green space. In my role as the executive director I was also driven by the core mission of this wonderful organisation to protect and promote Bermuda’s unique built, natural and cultural heritage forever.“Devonshire Marsh’s east and west basins are important wetland habitats that sit on top of Bermuda’s largest aquifer. The National Trust protects some 20 acres of land throughout the marsh. This parcel of land actually links the two basins and returning it back into green space provides an excellent opportunity for this valuable area to sustain an ecologically favourable land-use; lessening the fragmentation of the two basins of Devonshire Marsh and providing a greater resource for the enjoyment, education and understanding of Bermuda’s natural heritage.“I stand by our mission and direction today and am upset that anyone would suggest that my or the Trusts passion for our environment could be fouled with political adversity. The Bermuda National Trust is a charity with [the] purpose of promoting the permanent preservation of lands and buildings of beauty or historical interest for the benefit of Bermuda. We are a non-partisan, non-governmental organisation committed to protecting Bermuda’s unique natural and cultural heritage forever.”William White, president of the BNT, said: “The land in question is a plot of land at the bottom of Barker’s Hill in Devonshire that was voluntarily conveyed to the National Trust in 1990, a gift from a charitable trust, and was subject to an existing and ongoing lease for industrial use.“When the National Trust became the beneficial owner, it incorporated a remediation clause for the land so that at the end of the tenant’s use of the site, the property would be returned to grade for the purpose of restoring the property to open space in accordance with the Trust’s core mission. In 1993 a new lease was agreed for ten years at $10,000 per year, with one option to renew for a further five-year period. The initial ten-year lease expired in 2003 and the option to renew for five years at a rent of $20,000 per year was agreed. This extension had no further renewal options. The renewal expired in April of 2008 at which time the site was expected to be in remediation.“At this time the tenant aggressively pursued any option to stay on the land. As a charity hard hit by the economic downfall in 2008 the Trust was forced to review all revenues and expenses and to pursue any opportunity do more with less. This included a review of our property portfolio and in early 2009 an independent professional evaluation of the site in question concluded that ‘a rental value of around $250,000 to $300,000 per annum would be justifiable.’ On the face of this evaluation the commercial business renting the site was benefiting from a ridiculously low rent. The Trust had to seriously consider the opportunity to obtain a reasonable rent for a piece of land or a return of the land to open space.“The Trust and tenant finally agreed to extensions at $6,000 per month through March 2010 at which time the tenant surrendered the lease but remained on the land and continued their business. After protracted negotiation the Trust finally reached agreement with the tenant to reduce the rent to $3,000 per month for the period April 2010 through December 2011 with remediation to begin in January 2012.”Lt Col White said the National Trust has been working with Island Construction Services throughout 2012 to reinstate the site, which is very near completion, and the company has even dug tree holes for the National Trust volunteers who are planting Cedars, Palmettos and Olivewoods on the property.