The National Trust called for land owners ? whose property is protected from future development by a Section 34 agreement ? to donate their land to the Trust to guard against future development.

National Trust director Steve Conway made the suggestion at the Hamilton Lions and Lioness Club's joint Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday night.

Mr. Conway was speaking in reference to a decision in the Court of Appeals on the Chaplin Estate, in Warwick, where there was a Section 34 agreement of the Planning Act was overturned.

Mr. Conway said the dispute went through the Bermuda Courts and was on it's way to the Privy Counsel, in the United Kingdom, when the Trust decided to take another course of action.

"It's been a test case," said Mr. Conway.

"In future, the Trust could seek an agreement with the owners; it's another way, if you wish to preserve land.

"Donate your land to the Trust or the Bermuda Audubon Society otherwise, if the land is sold, the new owners could get the Section 34 agreement overturned."

Earlier this week, the Trust's lawyer Alan Dunch had said that litigation by its very nature was inherently risky, and the Trust was not prepared to run the economic consequences of that risk where it saw other avenues open to it.

Mr. Dunch also said that the Trust planned to push for legislative amendments requiring the Trust itself to be party to section 34 agreements, with a result that covenants done under Section 34 could not be varied without the consent of the Trust thereby adding additional protection; and Trust planned to also push for amendments in the Development and Planning Act 1974 to make it impossible to override Section 34 agreements in the future.

On Wednesday night, Mr. Conway said the law allowed for a Section 34 agreements to be overturned by new owners, even though the owners were aware of the agreement when they purchased the property.

"If the Trust is in partnership, when the ownership changes, the next person will have to comply with it (the section 34 agreement)," said Mr. Conway.

"In the Chaplin Estate case, the Trust objected to putting a road through woodland, which was protected under the Section 34 agreement."

The case arose in the 1990's after former Environment Minister Arthur Hodgson granted permission for an access road at the Chaplin Estate in 2000, when a Section 34 agreement was in place.