Dover, Christ Church Vendors Express Concerns Over Proposed Renovations by National Conservation Commission

Some dover, Christ Church vendors are up in arms over proposed work there, claiming ill treatment from the National Conservation Commission (NCC).

Richard Gittens, president of the Dover Heritage Committee, said there were several issues with the vendor area that needed addressing but the major one surrounded renovation of the area.

However, NCC officials reported they had been accommodating and were surprised by the accusations.

Gittens said the NCC wanted to renovate the entire complex and close it for four months but that was unfeasible, so they wrote the agency explaining that for many vending was their “bread and butter “.

He said his colleagues wanted to know who was the contractor; where the equipment for the renovation would be stored and if there would be compensation. He said they were met with the reply that the work is being done by a professional contractor and they “did not need to be consulted”.

“I found that a little bit distasteful because if you’ve got paying tenants, you really can’t be telling them that kind of stuff. So this discourse was going on for a little while and then at some point in time they sent out correspondence.”

Gittens said the NCC told them they did not recognise the committee and would speak to individuals. After that, correspondence was sent to individual vendors and work began on two stalls.

“We, on numerous occasions, asked them to have a conversation and they say that they aren’t going to meet with us as a body, they would meet with individuals, but that is a bit pointless because everybody occupying the same space and everybody needs to know what’s going on.

“But a couple people broke ranks and decided that they’re going to have a separate arrangement,” he said.

NCC general manager Ryan Als said nothing underhand was occurring.

“The plan was to do major renovations like at Oistins but some of the vendors preferred if we didn’t close the facility. We said, ‘Okay, no problem, we will close at your convenience’ and we spoke to individuals, wrote everyone – including the president – and indicated that the stalls could be fixed at their convenience. Persons came forward and said, ‘This particular date would be convenient for me and these are the things that I want done’ to the stalls and we obliged. So, I do not understand what the drama is about,” he said.

Als said Gittens had indicated he wanted to be paid if he had to close but that was against NCC policy. He said two vendors came forward and work had begun on their stalls while they had also started work on a closed stall and on a restaurant, though the latter was in concert with the Drainage Unit.

NCC chairman Alicia Als said the NCC was not in the business of disadvantaging anyone.

“The NCC is trying to work in concert with their stakeholders, which are the vendors. So we want them to come forward and say when it’s convenient. Before it was sent in writing, it was communicated to each vendor orally, because we have an officer that will go out responsible for the vendors. So we are surprised that people would come forward to say that the NCC is trying to dislocate them, and the NCC is trying to pick and choose whose stalls to fix when the NCC is really responding to the request of their vendors,” she said.

One of the vendors whose stall is being refurbished said it was not a case of going behind anyone’s back or over anyone’s head.

“I was overseas but I heard there was a meeting with us where the NCC said the complex would be closed for an overhaul for months. The operators asked why so long and the NCC said they would hold another meeting later but that never happened. Then they sent letters saying instead of a complete overhaul, they would do individual repairs stall by stall, so I responded. That’s all I did,” the woman, who did not want to be identified, said.

Meantime, Gittens identified lighting, water settling, the toilets and odours from a manhole as issues.

“We needed lights but they put up some very bright lights and it’s a problem because the turtles try to follow the light and once the season starts, we’ve got to be out here with buckets catching them and putting them in the sea,” he said.

He called for proper maintenance of the drainage system.

In response, Als said the issues would be addressed, and that a maintenance programme was on-stream for the bathrooms. He chastised some vendors for placing food in the drains. (CA)