Our policies and proposals in opposition to government’s Vision 2050 based on destructive growth are being vindicated everyday. Everyday we see the encouragement of property speculation to the lack of action on the effects of overtourism, from Fgura to Mellieħa, to the renewal of the Numero Uno lease in Ta’ Qali, Ħ’Attard without any safeguards to protect residents. All in the name of rampant economic growth at the expense of our wellbeing.
In Fgura the Planning Authority failed yet again to exercise its powers at law and while requiring a developer to scale down his development, instead of requiring the developer to provide an urban public open space as part of his civic obligations, decides to get the local council to give back 1 million Euros of planning gain to the developer himself. In so doing, the polluter pays principle is being inverted, as a result ensuring that the polluter enriches himself at the expense of our communities.
In Ta’ Qali, Parliament, government and opposition decided to renew the lease of a night club in Ta’ Qali for 50 years without any additional conditions regarding noise pollution, despite the longstanding complaints by residents and their local representatives in Ħ’Attard and the surrounding areas. Again, the prioritisation of economic gain for the sake of the ‘touristic product’, without any reasonable and enforceable conditions to protect our communities.
ADPD-The Green Party’s Chairperson Sandra Gauci added:”The cherry on the cake is the proposed hotel redevelopment within a protected Natura 2000 site and adjacent to the Bird Sanctuary in Mellieħa. The large-scale tourism infrastructure proposed directly undermines the ecological integrity of the area. Instead of introducing intensive built development, the site should be earmarked for ecological rehabilitation within Malta’s forthcoming National Nature Restoration Plan. ADPD-The Green Party reiterates that open spaces are critical ecological infrastructure. Government wants more and more tourism accommodation. We want less. The integrity of Malta’s planning framework is being repeatedly weakened, there is no planning, just ‘permitting’.”
Additionally, the Mellieħa hotel project would also negatively impact adjacent Foresta 2000, a long-term forest restoration initiative led by BirdLife Malta. This is one of the few successful, professionally managed afforestation projects in Malta. Its value goes beyond monetary gain. ADPD-The Green Party calls for the application’s refusal and for the site’s full inclusion in Malta’s national ecological restoration strategy.
Sandra Gauci, ADPD-The Green Party Chairperson and local councillor in Saint Paul’s Bay expresses solidarity with the Mellieħa Local Council and has submitted an objection to the proposed rebuilding of a hotel. The site should be returned to nature instead.
