Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar (FAA) welcomes the revocation of a permit for the construction of 23 villas with pools overlooking beautiful Ramla l-Hamra Bay in Gozo. The legal searches carried out by the objector architect had revealed that the land in question does not belong wholly to the developers, as there is a public road passing through it. This was confirmed by MEPA lawyers when they carried out researches related to the contract which MEPA lawyers proposed in response to FAA demands, made at the June hearing. FAA had insisted on assurances that the project would remain touristic and that the villas would not eventually be sold separately. This contract can no longer be honoured now that it has been discovered that a small part of the development was going to be built on public land.
FAA maintain that the planning application was further flawed by the fact that the developers had presented an archaeologists’ report which had not been carried out for the reason of the construction of a large commercial project in the area but for the possibility of setting up a heritage trail.
“This verdict is a great victory for civil society” said an FAA spokesman “the result of the hard work undertaken by a number of NGOs, citizens of Malta and Gozo and the large rally held last June in protest at the granting of the permit.” It was maintained at the time that development permits should never have been granted on this Outside Development Zone site, not only due to its ecological and archaeological sensitivity as well as its landscape value, but also because four separate applications had been recently refused in the vicinity of this site, including one for the construction of a farmers' tool-room!
This is a clear indication that when things are not in order, concerted efforts on the part of citizens and NGOs together can succeed in bringing about justice and change, especially when the authorities show a readiness to listen. On the other hand, it is shameful of MEPA to attack NGOs and squander huge sums of taxpayers' money on glossy propaganda leaflets and paid adverts/photomontages in an attempt to convince the nation that this was a project and that all was above board, when the facts now speak for themselves. That money and effort could have been spent much more wisely, to say nothing of the working hours and energy MEPA’s PRO spent on justifying the unjustifiable.
FAA wishes to emphasise yet again that sites Outside Development Zone, areas of scenic beauty, built heritage and archaeological remains should be untouchable. It is hoped that this verdict is an indication of a change of approach in the processing of applications for other Gozitan mega projects like those of Hondoq ir-Rummien and Ta Cenc.