On the eve of a hearing between Mary Victoria Road residents and the Bermuda Housing Corporation (BHC) it was revealed that a civil rights lawyer will accuse the housing quango of trying to turn private land into communal space.

The Prospect Housing Committee ? made up of concerned Mary Victoria Road residents ? released the arguments to be made by Civil Rights Commissioner lawyer Corin Smith before the long-awaited hearing before the Development Applications Board (DAB) this morning.

?In order to satisfy the regulations of the Department of Planning, the revised plans the BHC submitted are claiming our leased property ? our backyards and side-yards ? as the common land for 20 houses they wish to build on Mary Victoria Road and Alexandra Road,? the Prospect Housing Committee said.

?According to the plans, this means the BHC is intending the potential residents to have complete access and full rights to our leased property.?

The DAB resolved to have a hearing in relation to a Planning application by BHC to build 20 new homes at No?s 11, 13, 15 and 17 at Alexandra Road and No?s 2 and 4 on Mary Victoria Road, Devonshire.

The residents initially told the DAB in their objection that they were ?concerned for the basic quality of life for all of Prospect?s residents?.

?In July the BHC was forced to resubmit their plans to build 20 houses in our neighbourhood,? it said. ?This was because we had alerted the Department of Planning and the Department of Parks that the BHC included the grass park land on Mary Victoria Road as their property for communal land in the plans submitted in April 2005.?

However, it alleged this land is a national park, otherwise known as the Orange Valley Extension Park.

Another legal argument of the Committee was that Prospect home owners owned private land, that could not be used as communal space, or park.

For its second argument, it will rely on the second schedule of the Condominium Amendment Act 1998, which states the Committee?s leased properties and common areas composed, what the Act refers to as the Prospect Estate.

?This means we are a separate estate from the BHC rental properties in Prospect,? it said. ?The legislation ensures that if/when we choose to go freehold a Prospect condominium estate has already been legally established.

?The BHC appears to have ignored this Act and is claiming all of Prospect as one large estate with no private land and no boundaries.

?Even though our leases are legally binding and clearly delineate each of our lots, the location map on the BHCs submitted plans shows no evidence of our lots. Instead, there are substantial open spaces which the BHC intends to use as communal land for all residents of Prospect, current and future.

The Committee said it was essential for every leaseholder at Mary Victoria Road to be represented at Wednesday?s hearing.

?Please continue to pray for our neighbourhood and our Government,? it concluded.

BHC General Manager Vance Campbell refused to answer a question as to why the lines marking communal areas in the back yards of several Mary Victoria Road homes did not appear on a map submitted as an application to the Planning Department by the BHC.

?Because the hearing is tomorrow I will reserve comments until then in fairness to both sides,? Mr. Campbell said yesterday.