Revised Laws of Saint Lucia (2021)

2.   Interpretation

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   (1)   In this Act—

“advertisement” includes—

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   (a)     any word, letter, model, sign, placard, banner, board, notice, awning, blind, balloon, device or representation, whether illuminated or not, in the nature of or employed wholly or in part for the purposes of advertisement, announcement or direction, or calling attention to any person, matter, object or event excluding any such thing employed wholly as a memorial; and

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   (b)     any hoarding, billboard, wall, fence, or similar structure or apparatus used or adapted for use for the display of advertisements;

“Advisory Committee” means a Physical Planning and Development Advisory Committee established under section 7;

“agriculture”—

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   (a)     includes horticulture, fruit growing, seed growing, dairy farming, the breeding and keeping of livestock for meat, wool, skins or fur, or for the purpose of their use in the farming of land, the use of land as grazing land, market gardens and nursery grounds;

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   (b)     but does not include the use of land including land below the low water mark for fish farming;

“Appeals Tribunal” means the Physical Planning and Development Appeals Tribunal established by section 8;

“boundaries of a road” means the boundary of the land belonging to the road;

“building” includes any structure or erection of whatever material and in whatever manner constructed or any part of a building, and where the context so permits, includes the land on, in or under which the building is situated;

“building operations” includes demolition works, rebuilding operations, structural alterations or other additions to a building, and any road or drainage works preliminary or incidental to the erection of buildings;

“development” in relation to any land means the carrying out of building, engineering, mining or other operations in, on, over or under any land, the making of any material change in the use of any land or buildings, or the subdivision of any land, and “develops” and “developer” shall be construed accordingly;

“dwelling unit” means a building or part of a building used or intended to be used for human habitation providing therein living, sleeping, eating, food-preparation and sanitary facilities for one household, with or without other essential facilities shared with other dwelling units;

“engineering operations” include the carrying out of any works for the installation of any sewers, water mains, pipes, cables or other apparatus, the laying out, construction and maintenance of roads, drains, culverts, bridges and retention structures, the preparation of land for carrying out any development, the clearing and grubbing of land, earthworks, dredging, land filling and land reclamation;

“forest” means an extensive tract of land covered with trees and undergrowth;

“forestry” means the science and art of forming and cultivating forests;

“Head of the Physical Planning and Development Division” means—

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   (a)     the person appointed as such by the Public Service Commission;

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   (b)     a person appointed by the Public Service Commission to an office bearing a designation other than “Head, Physical Planning and Development Division” but performing the same functions as the Head of the Physical Planning and Development Division;

“land” means incorporeal as well as corporeal hereditaments of every tenure or description, and any interest therein, and also an undivided share in land, and includes land covered with water and land underlying the sea surrounding the coast within the limits of the territorial waters of Saint Lucia;

“Land Acquisition Act” means the Land Acquisition Act;

“Land Registrar” means the Land Registrar appointed under the Land Registration Act;

“local authority” means any local government body which is established by or under the Constitution or laws in force in Saint Lucia;

“mining operations” means the carrying out in relation to any mineral or substance including oil and geothermal energy in or under land of any activity with a view to searching for, removing by underground or surface working, carrying away, treating or converting that mineral, and includes the removal of beach sand, quarrying, drilling and boring operations;

“Minister” means the Minister with responsibility for planning and development;

“occupier” in relation to any building or land includes a caretaker, contractor or other person authorised to undertake or engaged in undertaking any works in relation to the said building or land;

“owner” in relation to any building or land means a person, other than a mortgagee not in possession, who is for the time being entitled to dispose of the right of ownership of the building or land, whether in possession or reversion, and includes also a person holding or entitled to the rents and profits of the building or land under lease or agreement;

“person” includes a natural person, a body corporate or an unincorporated body;

“physical plan” means a plan showing the manner in which land may be used whether by the carrying out of development or otherwise and the stages by which such development may be carried out;

“Physical Planning and Development Division” means the Physical Planning Division of the Ministry with responsibility for planning and development;

“port” means the harbour of Castries, an airport or a seaport under the Saint Lucia Air and Sea Ports Authority Act, or any other port declared to be such under section 12 of the Customs (Control and Management) Act;

“referral agencies” means the governmental and non-governmental agencies to which applications for permission to develop land are routinely referred for technical advice;

“Regulations” means regulations made under this Act;

“road” means road as defined under the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act;

“single-family dwelling house” means a building used or intended to be used solely as a separate dwelling unit without any essential facility shared with another dwelling unit;

“statutory undertaker” means any authority, company or person empowered by any act to execute or construct authorised works or to carry into effect the purposes of that Act;

“subdivision” in relation to land means the division of any land registered as one parcel into 2 or more parts, by way of vesting order, partition order, transfer, agreement or other instrument, for the purposes of succession, sale, gift, lease, mortgage or any other purpose, whether or not the division involves building, engineering, mining or other operations on over or under or a material change in the use of any parcel of land and whether or not any engineering or other operations are necessary or expedient for the purpose of laying the land out in the manner in which it is being divided.

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   (2)   In this Act a reference to an environmental impact assessment is a reference to a process that—

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      (a)     determines the potential impacts, and the degree of such impacts, of a proposed undertaking on the environment; or

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      (b)     identifies the measures to be established to mitigate against any potential adverse impacts that might occur as a result of the proposed undertaking.

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   (3)   In this Act a reference to environmental impact statement is a reference to the report produced as an output of an environmental impact assessment and shall include—

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      (a)     a description of the proposed undertaking;

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      (b)     the terms of reference that informed the preparation and details of the environmental impact statement;

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      (c)     a description of the potentially affected environment including specific information necessary for the identification and assessment of the potential environmental effects of the proposed undertaking;

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      (d)     a description of the practical alternatives to the project;

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      (e)     an assessment of the potential impacts of the proposed undertaking and the alternatives on the environment. This would include direct, indirect, cumulative, short, medium, and long term effects;

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      (f)     identification and description of proposed measures to mitigate impacts of the proposed undertaking and alternatives along with an assessment of those mitigative measures;

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      (g)     an indication of the gaps or absences in knowledge and uncertainties which may be encountered in compiling the required information;

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      (h)     an indication of whether the environment of any other area beyond the impact area as determined initially is likely to be affected by the proposal or its alternative;

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      (i)     the most desirable course of action based on the findings and the exploration and weighing of alternatives;

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      (j)     an executive summary of the findings, and recommendations of the environmental impact assessment;

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      (k)     a compilation of references along with base data, studies, and ancillary materials that informed the environmental impact assessment's process, findings, and recommendations.