A section of the North Gully that runs through Canterbury, William Street and downtown Montego Bay to empty into the sea. – CWP photo
In September 2020 EU and UN-Habitat provided US$100,000 (approx. J$3M) to fund a Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme (PSUP) for the communities of Canterbury, Albion Lane, William Street (North Gully) and Paradise Rowe. This came in light of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and Councillor Richard Vernon said then, “They have all the tenets to make an outbreak explosive, as such, pre-emptive actions must be implemented and these implementations must have medium to long term implications.”
In the short-term, however, the loss of jobs fomented by the pandemic created an urgent need for welfare and UN-Habitat was convinced to help satisfy that need.