possible introduction of a new "Bermuda-specific'' building code.

The move was announced during the Throne Speech on Friday by Governor Lord Waddington.

But it was not a new plan and the department has been committed to it over the past year, said Environment Minister Pamela Gordon.

However, she said the necessary mechanisms and people to make it happen were not in place.

So to help with the process, Brett Forgesson was taken on recently as the department's building control officer, Ms Gordon said yesterday.

Ms Gordon said the present system was fair, but it was not perceived to be so by the public.

"We need to put our money where our mouths have been.'' So the department was seeking to create a system that was perceived to be fair by everyone, said Ms Gordon.

To change this perception, the department was looking at altering certain regulations and rules governing applications to the Development Applications Board and appeals against its decisions, she added.

The department had already taken the first step, she continued, with meetings with board members so they could outline their concerns. "We heard their concerns and identified what they felt needed to be fixed in the Ministry and Government to make their job easier.'' After the meetings, she said there were some "quirks'' identified that needed to be fixed.

She said she felt one problem was that there were some people who did not understand the board's makeup and saw it as a "ghost board''.

Ms Gordon said the work members did on the board was also very time consuming and with little financial reward. She said: "The DAB is seen by some as a dreaded group of heavy handed individuals when they are actually a unique cross section of the community.'' Another problem was that the present building code contained a lot of rules and regulations which were not appropriate to the Island so the department had committed itself to creating a new building code specific to Bermuda.

This code would take into consideration health and safety factors while keeping things unique to Bermuda in the sphere of the code's requirements.

People were also irritated with the department, continued Ms Gordon, because it had not been able to articulate the planning process clearly to the public so some people did not understand it.

"We need to articulate ourselves better because the better that people understand our process, the less frustration they will feel when dealing with the department.'' Planning director Brian Rowlinson said that one item which would be going to the House of Assembly in the near future would contain new application procedure rules which would govern the form and content of applications and the manner in which objections would be dealt with.

The department were also working on a general development order which would contain a set of regulations that allowed straightforward planning applications to be dealt with quicker but its introduction was set for some time down the road.