FORMER CHIEF TOWN PLANNER Leonard St Hill has died.
According to reports St Hill fell ill at a meeting he was attending Saturday night and was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital where he subsequently passed away.
Chief Town Planner Mark Cummins told the DAILY NATION St Hill made “a very significant contribution to the planning landscape of Barbados.”
“He was extremely knowledgeable about the town planning legislation and he used that knowledge along with his very good intellect to ensure that planning was always on the front burner,” Cummins said last night.
He noted St Hill referred to himself more as an advocate because his main concern was to ensure that the letter of the law was followed, but said the man who held the post of Chief Town and Country development officer in the 1960s, ultimately had an interest in good planning
Though long retired, the St Lucian-born civil engineer maintained a strong voice and interest in matters related to Barbados’ town planning issues and was also a prolific writer on the subject.
Close friend Eugene Pilgrim said: “I must say that he has kept a very faithful and diligent observation on town planning issues in Barbados.”
St Hill was also pillar in the Methodist Church where he became an accredited local preacher in 1976 and devoted much of his life to the service of the church.
His colleague, the Reverend Colton Bennett, spoke of St Hill’s devotion to the Methodist church beginning in his youthful days in St Lucia. In Barbados, the commitment continued as St Hill travelled across the island preaching at various churches on the Methodist circuit.
Bennett praised St Hill’s thorough approach to preparation and delivery of his message.
St Hill, aged 86, was a widower. He is survived by one daughter. (GC)
