BRITAIN’S exit from the EU will not affect urban planning and development within the British Bases, as provided for under the Cyprus-UK Agreement, a foreign ministry official said on Thursday.
The source told CNA that a representative ministry has participated as an observer in the occasional meetings and consultations held among all the parties involved.
The agreement allows a large part of the bases area to be included in town planning zones for development. Specifically, 78 per cent of the bases territory, around 200 square kilometres, that includes private properties, will fall under the regulation.
A total of three municipalities and sixteen communities in the districts of Limassol, Larnaca and Famagusta will benefit from the agreement providing for the lifting of restrictions on the development of privately owned property by locals within the non-military areas of the Akrotiri and Dhekelia bases.
The implementation of the agreement, the official said, was moving forward smoothly and is in its final stages, but he also talked about a difficult and time-consuming process due to the special regime of the bases.
The official said the agreement will create a completely new situation. “We started from scratch, there was nothing and we are moving forward,” he said.
He said the agreement, signed in 2014, was a legal commitment between the two states, and made it clear that there is no indication that the British were in any way withdrawing due to Britain exit from the EU.
On the contrary, the official said, the British Bases were working with the Cypriot authorities and were committed to the common task of implementing the agreement, while expressing the hope that the Planning Policy would soon be published.
He said the agreement and its implementation were not at all connected with developments in the Cyprus problem and it was completely different from the proposal submitted by the British in the context of the negotiations on Cyprus providing for the return of British Bases territory after a political settlement. That offer was made ahead of the Annan plan negotiations in 2003-2004.
The official described the current agreement as a “big step” because of British misgivings about allowing development in these areas which they use for military purposes.
Asked how Brexit could affect the agreement, the official said that it might affect some legal technicalities but clarified that it was not going to affect urban planning.
“We have begun negotiations with the United Kingdom to see exactly how the new status of the Bases will emerge in view of the UK`s exit from the EU,” the official said. He reiterated however that its practical implementation would not be affected.
This negotiating group in close consultation and coordination with the task force set up by the ministry that deals exclusively with Brexit, the official said.
The agreement has now reached the stage of assessing the environmental impact on the basis of the agreed Preliminary Planning Policy which is expected to be published by the end of 2017.
