By ANDRE BAGOO Wednesday, February 27 2008

CULTURE MINISTER Marlene McDonald will today meet with Vel Lewis, chairman of the National Trust, to discuss legislative procedures which could see the historic Boissiere “Gingerbread” House being listed as a national property of interest.

The meeting comes in the midst of a public outcry over the possible sale of the 104-year-old house as well as revelations this week that not a single landmark in this country has to date been listed on a public register of protected properties under the 1991 National Trust Act.

It also comes as owners of the property voiced their position on the sale, saying they have virtually been forced to sell because of its exorbitant upkeep expenses.

The Gingerbread House is among a list of properties which include the Red House, President’s House and the Magnificent Seven currently not registered as properties of interest under national trust legislation, despite a previous attempt to have them so listed.

To date they have remained legally unprotected because of an ongoing, tedious divergence of views over the correct procedure for listing of properties for protection between the Trust, the Office of the Attorney General and the Culture Ministry.

Section 8 of the 1991 Act empowers the National Trust to “prepare a list of buildings and sites of particular national, historic or architectural interest” to be then approved by the Culture Minister and then formally gazetted. However, Section 30 of the Act also allows the Trust, with the Approval of the Culture Minister, to set out further regulations, “as are necessary or convenient for the purposes of this Act.” In subsection one of Section 8, there is a clear reference to Section 30.

Uncertainty over the exact mechanism of the submission procedure for a list of properties to be protected has caused delay, Lewis revealed this week.

The Trust has now submitted a proposal on the correct procedure to Mc Donald. If this procedure is approved by the Minister, the Trust will then formally submit its list in accordance with that procedure, bringing to an end concerns that the property may be bulldozed if it slips into the hands of a third party.

An online petition to save Gingerbread House, signed by more than 2,200 persons including novelist Lawrence Scott, senior counsel Douglas Mendes, playwright Tony Hall, architect Rudy Lynn Roberts and lecturer Kenneth Ramchand, will be submitted to Prime Minister Patrick Manning later this month.