Heritage: Eviction of chicken farmer a matter of safety

Senior Reporter

akash.samaroo@cnc3.co.tt

Heritage Petroleum Company Limited is defending its intention to demolish a chicken farm which sits on land it owns in Penal, saying it is a matter of safety. But the farmer is adamant that the company is telling untruths.

He now wants a meeting with the company to find a compromise as he now faces the daunting reality of becoming homeless.

On Monday, Guardian Media reported the complaints of Anthony Cornwall who claimed that, without warning or prior notice, masked gunmen purporting to be from the State company came to the farm in Lowkie Trace Penal and advised Cornwall to sell his birds and dismantle the pens.

But in a media release yesterday afternoon, the energy company said the farm was in close proximity to oil pipelines, a production station and a compressor station.

“It is therefore in breach of setback distances which have been outlined by the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries and poses a significant health and safety risk to not only the trespassers but also to neighbouring communities,” the company said in its release.

In response to what it called “unauthorised occupation”, Heritage said two notices to cease and desist from conducting activities on the lands were issued on March 5 and April 20, 2024.

“The illegal occupiers of the said lands have refused to comply with the cease-and-desist notices, and have continued their activities unabated,” Heritage said.

Despite Cornwall telling Guardian Media that he built the chicken pens in 2019, Heritage claims that the commencement of operations of the chicken farm started this year.

Responding to concerns expressed by Cornwall for his safety, after claims that he felt intimidated by the armed men, the company said, “All steps taken by Heritage personnel with respect to addressing this illegal activity are both authorised and closely monitored, leaving no room for any untoward demands and or behaviour on the part of any Heritage personnel.

Heritage said by law it is empowered to protect its assets and added that in the past it had shown leniency.

“Trinidad Petroleum Holdings Limited (TPHL) under which Heritage falls, has an extremely well-documented history of making its non-operational land holdings available to the State, non-governmental organisations, and law-abiding individuals who make the requisite application and await approval for the appropriate use thereof, but not limited to farming,” the company added.

When Guardian Media brought the company’s statement to the attention of Cornwall yesterday, he expressed surprise at the claims made.

“The stations which they are speaking about are not close to me, more than two to three hundred feet away from me,” Cornwall said.

He also contended, “The pens are close to pipelines but not active pipelines. And people used to steal the pipes, and I used to stop them. Amalgamated used to come to me to find out who stealing. So, I used to stop people from invading, I would come out and stop them from trying to thief. But we have no active pipes close to me.”

With respect to the notices Heritage claimed it served to the chicken farmer he replied, “One notice they gave me in March or February and I was digging a piece of dirt and they told me no excavating and I stopped. And they never told me to leave, all the papers said was to stop excavating.”

Cornwall also challenged Heritage’s claims that he constructed the chicken pens this year. He sought to clarify that he completed work this year but it commenced in 2019.

The Penal farmer, who is a father of four, now wants a meeting with a Heritage official because without his farm he will be homeless.

“My next move is to get a meeting with Heritage, the CEO or somebody because I can’t face demolition, I have workers, I have livestock. My house burnt down, and I am staying by the farm, it’s the farm I’m living by, and my bedroom is a hammock,” he lamented.

Cornwall said six workers on his farm also depend on him for work.

He previously told Guardian Media that he and his father planted on the land for over 50 years while it was owned by Trintoc and then Petrotrin.

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