Shadow Environment Minister Cole Simons has hit out at Government for failing to update a land plan of the Island since it came to power.

The United Bermuda Party MP claimed yesterday that the Bermuda Development Plan ? a blueprint aimed at guiding development and conserving resources ? needed to be reassessed every five years but that staffing shortages in the planning department had prevented that from happening.

"The failure to adequately staff the department has meant the five-year review of the Bermuda Development Plan has not been conducted since the PLP Government was elected to office in 1998," he said.

"Its lack of action has left Bermuda facing the current wave of hyper-development with a Bermuda Plan that was put together more than 15 years ago."

Environment Minister Neletha Butterfield revealed last May that the planning department was in the process of reviewing the document.

She could not be contacted for comment last night.

Mr. Simons' comments come in the wake of public concern about the new Southlands hotel resort proposal.

Objectors ? including Bermuda National Trust ? have protested about the scale of the plan, which includes a request to "bury" part of South Road beneath a large land bridge.

Mr. Simons said: "Bermuda is flying blind when it comes to making sound, well-informed decisions about how our land is used.

Government neglect of crucial planning needs has compromised our ability to make the kind of smart decisions that will build toward a sustainable future.

"Public anxiety about the recent wave of new hotel proposals, particularly at Southlands in Warwick, reflects the fact that we lack a strategy that can tell us what is best for Bermuda.

"This neglect ? or indifference ? is most apparent in the planning department, which has been allowed to operate for years with far too few staff.

"It means that our planning policies have not kept pace with development. It means there is no up-to-date strategy in place that tells us the best way forward."

Mr. Simons claimed Islanders were being forced to make crucial decisions without a plan to guide them.

"The situation is totally unacceptable and one has to ask whether the PLP Government gives a damn about our environment," he said.

"Their inaction amounts to an abdication of responsibility for the public interest. If it continues, it can do irreparable damage to the long-term interest of the Island and our way of life, which we know is under threat."

He said the Bermuda Development Plan should contain the most current data and projections on population, business, employment, tourism, housing and land use.