The Department of Planning was one of many areas the Minister of Finance cited yesterday for needing more manpower.

But Minister Paula Cox warned: ?That comes with a price and a cost and it cannot always be done in one fell swoop, even when there is a demonstrable need.?

The Department of Planning, which is part of the Environment Ministry, has seen a tremendous increase in workload over the past few years, but only a very small increase in staff.

Environment Minister Neletha Butterfield explained yesterday why there was a need for more planners: ?Growth, buoyancy, growth.

?You can?t see all this building that is going on?

?You need more inspectors, you need more planners, the workload is very heavy. There?s an increased need because there?s increased activity in the whole Island when it comes to development.?

And as the years have passed, the Department of Planning?s response time has significantly slowed. In 2004 it took an average of 13.1 weeks to process a planning application. In 2005 it took an average of 13.9 weeks, and in 2006 it surged to a wait of 15.3 weeks.

Ironically, the department processed about 200 fewer applications in 2006 (1,120) than it did in 2005 (1,312) ? but the wait time still increased. During most of that stretch, employee numbers hardly moved, but change is likely on the way according to the Environment Ministry Permanent Secretary Wayne Carey.

Mr. Carey said: ?We?ve met approval for a new planner and two assistant planners in addition to filing the vacancies that already exist in the department. Within the next couple of months we expect to be at full complement in the Department of Planning.?

The potential staffing increases will, no doubt, be welcomed news to architects and contractors, but when news spread to the environmentalist community there was mostly scepticism.

Andrew Vaucrosson of the sustainable development group Greenrock said: ?You may be able to increase the number of staff of the Planning Department, but that doesn?t change the situation in rewriting the Planning Act or the fact that SDO?s (special development orders) bypass the planning department in general.?

Environmentalist Stuart Hayward said of staff increases: ?It?s little and late. The department is under siege.

?The pace and volume of development has skyrocketed and planning procedures are being shredded due to the department being out-gunned by savvy developers and Ministers yielding to pressures, political or otherwise.?

Mr. Carey was careful to point out that the move for new employees has been underway for some time. He said: ?This is something we have been working on for the past year. It?s not something that we suddenly woke up and determined that there?s a need for.?

The Budget released yesterday allows the Department of Planning eight percent more money than the previous fiscal year.

When the current fiscal year ends in March, Government planning staffers will have spent almost exactly what was budgeted.

However, in terms of revenue, the Department of Planning will come in $577,000 short.

At a post-budget press conference Ms Butterfield outlined some initiatives planned for accomplishment this year ministry-wide.

Ms Butterfield spoke of an agricultural education programme which places senior high school students with established local farmers. Mr. Hayward thought the Budget day programmes for the environment lacked inspiration.

He said: ?In order to preserve agricultural land in Bermuda, that land has to be protected from development.

?It has not been lost on farmers that Government plans and projects have been among the most serious threats to the preservation of agricultural land. With the much-lauded surpluses in the economy, the Government ought to be investing in the future, not just of farmers and farming, but the future of us all, by the aggressive purchasing of sensitive tracts of land.?

The new Budget allows for $500,000 to be spent on open space acquisitions. After only a cursory look at the Ministry?s budget ? which includes the Department of Telecommunications and E-Commerce ? Mr. Vaucrosson reaffirmed a thought he has long maintained.

He said: ?I never could understand the amalgamation of the Ministry of the Environment to Telecommunications and E-Commerce.?