Cotton Tree Village Council wanted consultation on private subdivision

Cotton Tree village
(Google Earth photo)

Monday, June 23, 2014. AARON HUMES Reporting: Last week Monday saw the first hearing of the case of the Cotton Tree Village Council and the Minister of Natural Resources concerning a subdivision of 254 lots.

The disputed land is situated on the right-hand side of the George Price Highway in COtton Tree village and forms part of over 200 acres of land acquired by Government from private land owner Ramon Tseng.

It is the contention of Attorney General Wilfred Elrington that the land in question is not part of the village, which he says is exclusively located across the road on the left-hand side of the highway.

Elrington says he personally approached Tseng, a personal friend and former client of his, to sell the land to Government, which made it available for the lots, 49 of which were handed out to Pickstock constituents.

Hon. Elrington says neither he nor his family got any of the lots personally, but today the matter returned to the Supreme Court where further direction was given.

We asked attorney for the village council Andrew Marshalleck about the Attorney General’s remarks and he drew a distinction as to land Government acquires publicly and what it acquires privately.

According to Marshalleck, Elrington could have made a personal purchase from his own funds and been completely free of the law, but because Government is involved, the land is publicly owned and subject to the laws of Belize, placing it within the bounds of the village council.

The case returns to court on September 15.

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