Government today hit back at environmental groups over concerns about development at Rosewood Tucker's Point resort.Last week, a special development order was drawn up allowing for new development around the resort - a move which would allow it to repay loans to HSBC.However environmentalists said they were concerned that large parts of habitats would be lost.This afternoon the Ministry of Environment, Planning and Infrastructure Strategy issued a statement saying: “Firstly, the Ministry has gone to great lengths to ensure the protection of Bermuda's environment through the stringent conditions attached to this SDO, under the consultation of the Department of Conservation Services, the Sustainable Development Unit and the Department of Planning.“And, secondly, the Order grants in-principal approval only and that any applications for final approval will be subject to the conditions outlined in the Order and the regular planning approval process. This includes the normal public notification, public review, comment and appropriate objection.”The statement said that in an article in this newspaper, the Bermuda National Trust was quoted as saying it was “extremely alarmed that a large swathe of pristine land will be built on under the plans, and habitats of major significance will be lost”.“The Ministry would like to address this by saying that one of the conditions attached to this SDO is that any identified critical habitat or existing mature specimen endemic, native or ornamental plants must be recorded; and that these sites and plants must be protected and provided with an adequate setback buffer.“In fact, as the Ministry has already stated, a landscape principle of 40 percent endemics, 30 percent natives, 20 percent non-invasive ornamentals and ten percent of any combination of these will be applied to each proposed lot to be developed.“Furthermore, the majority of areas subject to this Order will require a Conservation Management Plan prepared on an area-wide basis.”The statement added that the SDO had also “gone to great lengths to avoid any disturbance to the cave systems in this area”.“For example, as a condition of the SDO, any existing or newly discovered cave features on the proposed development sites will require a subterranean topographical survey be completed by a qualified cave survey specialist to geo-reference the cave voids for terrestrial development potential considerations. All mapped caves, cave features and new caves will require a minimum setback buffer of 30 feet for all structures and excavation.“Furthermore, all development must be designed with shallow tanks of minimum below existing grade depths of no greater than three foot depth finished level and four foot maximum excavation grade. No excavation will exceed four feet due to potential contact and impact with known or unknown cave systems and any required sewage trenching deeper than four feet must rely on test boreholes to demonstrate that such trenching works will not compromise an undiscovered cave.“Additionally, no development should utilise wells for water or deep sealed bore holes for sewage, other effluent or grey water disposal and all utility cables, including cable television relay cables, shall be placed underground, in trenching no deeper than three feet.“Also, as a compensatory measure, Mangrove Lake together with two areas comprising 7.45 acres and 1.64 acres respectively on the western and northwestern sides of White Crest Hill, are proposed to be donated to the Government for conservation management purposes.”In the statement the Ministry stressed that the Order is for 'in-principle approval only', and the application for final planning permission must be made to the Department of Planning and the Development Application Board. All final plans for development will be subject to normal public notification, public review, comment and appropriate objection.“We have now tabled an amendment to the Development and Planning Act 1974 to clarify that a Special Development Order is a Statutory Instrument and thus subject to parliamentary scrutiny. Appropriate scrutiny would then be via the affirmative resolution procedure, thereby enabling the legislature to fully consider and debate all the permissions and conditions to be attached to a SDO.“The Ministry has gone to great lengths to ensure the protection of Bermuda's environment through the stringent conditions attached to this SDO,” added the statement.Useful websites: www.tuckerspoint.com, www.gov.bm