A resident living near the Town Cut entrance to St. George's harbour has warned against any widening of the navigational channel to allow giant Panamax cruise ships access to the town's dockside.

At the moment it is not known if alterations will be necessary to bring the 900ft-long cruise ships safely to St. George's. Data from computerised simulations on the likely impact widening of the channel would have on the harbour and town have not been made public.

It is only when they are that Mayor E. Michael Jones and the people of St. George's will be able to assess the information and decide if they wish to support or oppose changes to the Town Cut.

Cut Road resident Paula Richardson was born and raised in the immediate vicinity of the Town Cut and, after 63 years experience of how wild the surge waters and waves can be during storms, is totally opposed to the idea.

She said: "They really need to leave it alone because St. George's will be flooded. When the weather is bad the Police come and tell people to move out for their safety and we have seaweed thrown up into the gardens."

Mayor Jones, who had seaweed in the garden of his property much further inside the harbour after the storm surge caused by Hurricane Fabian in 2003, said he was awaiting the Government to release information on the computer simulations to reveal what changes are needed if any to allow Panamax-sized cruise ships to safely negotiate the Town Cut in conditions with winds up to 25-30 knots.

With Mr. Jones currently seeking re-election as mayor, having called an election for January 26, he does not now expect the Town Cut data to be released until February at the earliest.

"If I'm re-elected as mayor it is my intention to have a public meeting as soon as possible with the information from Government so that the people of St. George's can express their views and those can be passed back to Government.

"I'm personally not in favour of widening the Town Cut, but I do want to look at all the information, study it and make an informed decision. It is important that the Corporation of St. George's makes the decision only after consultation with the public."

Candidate nominations for the St. George's mayoral election on January 26 must be made by 1 p.m. today. Former deputy mayor Mariea Caisey has announced her intention to challenge Mr. Jones in the election.