Residents of Windward, St Philip, say several acres of undeveloped land have become a haven for rodents and insects and are providing cover for thieves.
The upset residents want either the owner or the Ministry of Health to take responsibility and clear the massive lot.
The residents who live at Park View Plains, Kenrick Hutson Drive, located next to the vacant land, said they had made several complaints to the environmental health office at the Six Roads Polyclinic about the overgrown bush, but this had yielded no positive results.
They decided to go public with their complaint after three houses in the neighbourhood were burgled on Tuesday.
The residents believe that the thief was hiding out in the bush monitoring their movements because all of the homes were entered from the back.
Kay Hunte, whose home was not among those which were broken into this week, revealed that the thief tried unsuccessfully to get into the house next door, which she is taking care of since the residents are out of the island. Her home was burgled last year.
“The residents out here are tired of this situation,” Hunte said.
“I have been living out here for seven years and this land has never been cleared. We use to spray the perimeter of the land but now it is like a forest. Rats, mosquitoes, centipedes and thieves are in there.”
She said she had been unsuccessful in finding out who owned the property.
Another resident whose rented home was among those which were hit said he and his wife got home on Tuesday evening to find the house in a state of disarray.
Among the items stolen were a 32-inch flat screen television, a play station and an iPad. Pointing to the vacant land behind his house, the man said the culprit gained entry by ripping off the back door.
“I saw a police officer at the house next door so I went there to report what had happened to my house and that is when I realized that other houses were hit,” he said.
While there was a “For Sale” sign on the land with three contact numbers, I?received no responses when I dialled those numbers.
I also spoke to Clement Welch, the principal environmental officer at the Six Roads Polyclinic who indicated that he would have to investigate the matter to find out if his office had served a notice on the owner of the land.
However, he explained that Government’s land clearing programme had not yet started and furthermore, the Ministry of Health could not handle all of the vacant property in the country.
“We usually serve notices on the owners or their agents,” he said.
