Derrick Burgess, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly, has ordered the “elimination” of some parking bays at Sessions House.

The move comes in the wake of the Supreme Court appealing for justice from the House of Assembly this year after it emerged that the Parliamentary House and Grounds Committee was involved in a stand-off with judges regarding how many spaces the judiciary was entitled to.

Mr Burgess, who is the chairman of the committee, had insisted the Supreme Court must cut the number of spaces it uses from six to three by returning three disputed “clickers” needed to gain access to the car park.

It now transpires that what has been dubbed by some as “Clickergate” has entered a new phase, with Mr Burgess planning to remove a number of bays altogether and take down wall-mounted signs designating parking-space allocations — which appear to include those naming the Supreme Court spots.

In an e-mail to a senior official at the Ministry of Public Works, dated April 10, and seen by The Royal Gazette, Mr Burgess states: “Just confirming our discussion in regards to Sessions House, the parking area on the south side will be eliminated — due to safety concerns, plus two new parking bays to be added on the east side of the house.

“The new signs for parking to be ordered during the first week of April.

“Please remove all signs on the wall on the east side of the building [Court Street side]. Work on the steps and rails are in process.”

In the January dispute over the issue, e-mails showed Alexandra Wheatley, Registrar for the Courts, hitting back at the demand to return the clickers.

In correspondence with the Deputy Speaker, Ms Wheatley pointed out that the Supreme Court is an equal arm of government to the legislature, which has up to 50 parking bays for MPs and parliamentary staff at Sessions House.

In one e-mail, dated January 17, Mr Burgess said: “Ms Wheatley, this is the third and final time we are asking you to return all clickers to Sgt Major [Arnold] Allen asap.”

The next day, he wrote: “Ms Wheatley, there are only three clickers/parking lots total available to the court … again, I am asking that all clickers, including yours, be returned immediately.”

However, Ms Wheatley insisted that the committee was being “unfair” in the way it was treating the Supreme Court and had not consulted the body regarding the changes, or an audit of parking spaces.

Ms Wheatley said the Chief Justice, Narinder Hargun, had proposed Justice Larry Mussenden to represent the Supreme Court in a possible meeting with the Speaker of the House, Dennis Lister, and Mr Burgess to resolve the matter.

It was confirmed this year that the $12.8 million restoration of Sessions House, which was mothballed because of the Covid-19 pandemic, remained largely on hold despite the health emergency being declared over in November.

MPs have been meeting in Veritas Place, Hamilton, and David Burt, the Premier, said during the Budget debate that renovations will continue at Sessions House with the Supreme Court room relocating to the Dame Lois Browne-Evans Building on Court Street.

Owing to a case backlog and Covid-19, the court has been unable to relocate.

It was announced in 2019 that Supreme Court cases would no longer be heard at Sessions House once the renovations at the building were completed.

A capital expenditure of $550,000 has been allocated this year for repairs to Sessions House, but this is seen as funding to keep things ticking over before concentrated work resumes.

Mr Burt said that $570,000 has been set aside for the court consolidation project.

Mr Burgess and Ms Wheatley have been contacted by The Royal Gazette regarding the parking matter.