Subryanville residents threaten legal action over Mae’s School’s use of Farnum Ground

Last Updated on Tuesday, 9 September 2025, 22:02 by Writer

City Mayor Alfred Mentore and several other officials of the Georgetown City Council told residents of Subryanville that Mae’s School was never given permission to erect prefabricated structures on Farnum Ground to accommodate the institution following the devastating fire last March.

“You can drag us out. We can actually take legal action and have this stopped but would like the generosity and magnanimity to give you the opportunity to do your duty, Elizabeth Deane-Hughes told the meeting. She said before the school begins, no child should be allowed to enter the building and the owner should find alternative accommodation.

The Mayor said he had no problem with taking the issue to court while the Council decides on the way forward. “I’m saying to the residents go court as well,” he said.

Mr Mentore conceded to residents that they were not consulted about the school’s use of Farnum Ground to construct that facility. He promised to provide community representatives with a copy of the application by school owner, David Sugrim.

Mr Sugrim, who attended the meeting held on Farnum Ground, declined to answer a direct question by Jamela Ali, an Attorney-at-Law, about whether he was prepared to remove the structure on the eastern side of the sprawling ground since Mr Mentore, a number of councillors and City Engineer Colvern Venture told residents that the Council never granted permission for the structure being erected. “I join with the residents of this community…that this is unacceptable and while I agree with them that they should stop immediately, I also think that the future of the kids is also important so if you could go back to the original agreement with the couple months that you have remaining, I have no problem with that,” Councillor Rudolph Dyal said even as welders continued to assemble the structure in the distance.

Ms Ali: “They having stated that permission was not granted to you to build whatever is there now, are you prepared to remove it, because right now, you’re acting illegally. Are you prepared to remove it?”

Mr. Sugrim: “We’ll discuss that,” but residents interjected , saying they wanted him to leave now. Prior, he said that he went ahead with prefabricated structures because initially there was a mixture of those and the tents.

Ms Ali told Mr Sugrim that he was running a private school which was collecting fees and so he could make alternative arrangements. She reminded him that the period of compassion for the use of tents was from March to June.

Councillor Steven Jacob said that due to the fire, Council had unanimously decided to allow Mae’s School to erect tents on Farnum Ground for one year as a matter of an “urgency”. “What is happening here, we don’t know about and that is me being honest,” Mr Jacobs said. He repeatedly said the plight of the students could not be ignored.

Mr Mentore promised that a Council committee would be meeting on Wednesday to discuss the residents’ concerns and would meet with them on Friday at the Kitty Market to brief them about the outcome.

Elizabeth Deane-Hughes appealed to Mayor

Mentore to issue a cease order and for the structure to be dismantled and removed from the ground, regarded as one of Georgetown’s few remaining green spaces. Ms Deane-Hughes said she earlier on Tuesday visited the Central Housing and Planning Authority and was informed that there was no application for the school or Farnum’s Ground, no application for a change of use of the ground being a recreational area to host a school.

Subryanville resident, Vidyaratha Kissoon echoed calls for the prefabricated structure be taken to the already paved D’urban Park. “Plenty place deh man,” he said.

The officials recalled that Mae’s School had been given a limited time for the use of tents to accommodate the students for limited period.

Mr Sugrim said that he had briefed Mr Damien Fernandes about the layout and construction plans. Someone remarked: “Damien don’t have permission to give permission.”

The residents were incensed that since that time had passed, a prefabricated structure, which appear permanent, were being assembled to house the school. Mr Sugrim said that building was resting on pre-stressed concrete piles. He said that building on the Farnum Ground was likely to be two-flats. “If we could do one. Listen, the plan of it is to accommodate all the children that are there,” he said.

But a resident accused Mr Sugrim of illegally occupying the land with the sole motive being profit. “This is nonsense. There is no permission. Nothing granted. You’re coming on public property, put down your thing to earn money,” he said.

The owner of Mae’s School gave various numbers of flat ranging from four to six, that the new school building on the burnt out site would consist of, depending on the City Council’s approval of the plan. “Well, we looking at five, four, five, six something of the sort so…,” he said, prompting residents to ask “you don’t know?” A resident pressed on, asking Mr Sugrim how many flats is the new building that he ordered. “We ordered a big building,” triggering a burst of laughter, before he said precisely that it would be six storeys.

Related concerns were raised about the impact that such a large school in Subryanville would have on traffic congestion, parking, noise and air pollution.

Despite Mr Sugrim claiming that the surroundings were being cleaned every day, residents complained bitterly about builder’s waste such as plastic and Styrofoam that was strewn around the area. “Mr Sugrim could you clean up the mess that you’ve made around the ground?” a resident asked the school owner. He replied: “We usually clean it everyday” but residents disputed that.