Plans for a major housing development in the West End will be revealed when details of the Throne Speech are made public on November 3.

Speaking during a public meeting on Government?s housing initiatives, the Minister of Works and Engineering and Housing, Senator Lt. Col. David Burch said the Throne Speech would reveal a major shift in the way Government tackles the issue of affordable housing. The Throne Speech, which will outline Government?s major initiatives for the next year, will be read by Governor Sir John Vereker when Parliament reconvenes next month.

Mr. Burch would not reveal details of the plan, but he did say that the new West End project was geared towards income-based housing and being affordable for families.

He added: ?The new development will address a number of challenges West End residents currently face with respect to finding affordable rental accommodations.? Mr. Burch told the 75-strong audience at the St. James? Church Hall that a number of Government?s housing projects in the West End are nearing completion and he encouraged residents in need of housing to register with the Bermuda Housing Corporation.

The Minister gave a rundown on the status of some of the housing initiatives in the West End. ?Eight 2-bedroom units at Butterfield Lane are due to come online at the end of this year and renovation work on five units at the Dockyard Terrace and 100 units at the Rock-a-Way development is proceeding on schedule,? he said.

He added that ?sitting tenants? at the Boaz Island Village would be given an option to ?rent to buy? 52 of the 94 units which are owned by the West End Development Corporation.

One woman in the audience was very upset that her Government owned home in Somerset had fallen into bad shape and she accused the Ministry of Works, Engineering and Housing of failing to adequately maintain the building. Mr. Burch agreed that Government had done a poor job in maintaining Government owned buildings. ?I am gravely concerned that we ? the PLP to a certain extent and the former UBP Government to a certain extent ? were negligent in terms of providing proper funding for the maintenance of Government owned properties. We are now paying the price in that we have dramatic deficiencies in the types of units people now live in.?

He said the Bermuda Land Development Corporation, The Bermuda Housing Corporation and the West End Development Corporation had all been told to ?step-up? their maintenance programmes. He did admit, however, that it would take several years to bring some of the properties back to acceptable standards. He said Government may not be able to rehabilitate some of the properties and in those cases the buildings would have to be destroyed.

The next housing meeting will take place on October 24 at the Bermuda Industrial Union.