EAST End politician Kim Swan has urged the Government to come clean over the future of the former St. George's parish rest home building.

The Opposition Senator said the public had heard nothing about the hilltop building which was home to around 12 seniors before it was closed down due to its poor condition two years ago.

Weeks after the rest home closed in March 2000, the Government was considering plans for a brand-new residential home to replace it.

At the time of its closure, Health & Family Services Minister Nelson Bascome said conditions at the home had been appalling, with the bedrooms resembling "cubicles" and the home generally cramped. Sen. Swan said seniors in the Old Town needed the replacement home now and he questioned why no announcement had been made about the old building.

"The building sits idle and St. George's still has no rest home, while officials have been on trips to see rest homes overseas," said Sen. Swan. "Those trips have been a waste of money because there is no end result.

"People who live in Bermuda like to have a parish rest home in a part of the country that they are familiar with."

Sen. Swan believed the building was deeded to be a facility for the needy, having been left in a will by a benefactor many years ago. St. George's Parish Council and the Department of Health & Family Services were responsible for the building, he added.

"I find it very sad that someone cared that much as to leave the building in their will for the use of the poor and needy and that those wishes are not being executed.

"I think it needs to come out now as to what the conditions of that will were. One source has told me that it is possible that if the property is not used as a rest home, it goes over to the Government. So it possible that by leaving it dormant, they are preparing for a change of use.

"I can't understand why it's taking so long for the Government to come up with a suitable plan and a rest home for St. George's."

Sen. Swan said he had written to the Government on the subject and intended to keep raising the issue until he got answers.

Efforts to contact Health & Family Services Minister Nelson Bascome and Edward Saunders, chairman of St. George's Parish Council, were unsuccessful yesterday.

His comments come hard on the heels of the controversy surrounding St. George's police station. Sen. Swan last week handed in a 1,467-name petition campaigning for the Old Town to keep its police station.

A joint statement from Premier Jennifer Smith and Police Commissioner Jonathan Smith this week clarified that the station would be renovated and kept on as a police sub-station, with the East End divisional police headquarters at Southside, St. David's.

Past statements by Home Affairs Minister Terry Lister and Government Senate Leader Colonel David Burch had indicated that St. George's would lose its police station, but after Sen. Swan's petition attracted more than a thousand names, Premier Smith announced it had always been the Government's intention to renovate and maintain the existing police station.