A drive by young lone Gozitans to collect funds to fight a development in Nadur raised almost €2,500 in the morning they made their appeal through a story on timesofmalta.com, leaving them “amazed” at the support they felt they were not getting.
The intrepid residents of Qortin Street, in Nadur were stunned by the outpouring of support and the flowing in of funds from the public after they read their story in the newspaper.
Standing up to the developers of arable land in their hometown, they had said they felt they were up against their own community too as older residents feared the “big boys” while they refused to succumb to the omertà they said was characteristic of fellow Gozitans.
As an appeal against the controversial construction project’s approval gets under way, engineering student Jamie Buttigieg said the money would be used to pay legal fees and move to the next stage of the battle, which would entail applying for a court injunction to stop the project, leading the battle on to both the court of appeal and also the constitutional court if necessary.
Failing the acceptance of the suspension of works on the 38-apartment block by the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal (EPRT), following a request by the objectors and no objection from the applicant, the injunction was the next move, Buttigieg said.
Costs are expected to spiral and he said he would also go around the streets collecting money for the cause.
Together with Corrine Zahra, Buttigieg’s neighbour, both in their early 20s, they are putting up a relentless fight against PA/00085/21, which also includes basement garages for 61 cars and the excavation of cultivated land, where they and their families have lived for generations.
Within two hours of the article appearing online yesterday, almost €1,000 had already been deposited into their PayPal account.
‘We need more people like you’
The public’s “strong response” has rekindled the faith of the disgruntled but dogged activists in the situation, characterised by a “no-protest culture” in Gozo.
Apart from money, people – and political parties – sent them messages pledging their support and telling them: “We need more people like you.” In a way, this played into the narrative that the activists were often patted on the back but then left to their own devices.
Asked if they had felt they were a lone voice in the wilderness, Buttigieg admitted they got moral support and everyone agreed with them but when push came to shove, omertà took over.
ADPD, he said, had contacted them and wanted to meet to discuss the development.
According to objectors, including environment NGOs, the approved block in Triq il-Qortin would obliterate views, eat away at precious farmland, cause sewage to run into the crops and the water table as well as cause massive parking issues.
The case was considered even more serious as the land did not belong to the developers but to locals, whose ownership deeds went back generations, Buttigieg said, pointing out that his family and others had been defrauded of their property.
The 22-year-old said that, while his family had ties to some of the land in question, “I am doing this out of interest for the environment and the fact that Gozo is being ruined.
“My profession will most probably require me to work abroad to get a decent wage, so I will not benefit from any of this.”
In 2021, the youths had drummed up over 1,300 objections to an initial application, which would have seen more apartments being built. But the project was still approved by the Planning Commission on the basis that the revised plans had been “considerably downsized in scale and massing”.