Garden grabbing

Garden grabbing is a phenomenon that has hit a number of developed countries. People were selling off part of their back garden to developers. Governments simply turned a blind eye as this was providing cheap social housing. Of course, this phenomenon was imported in Malta too but then the government/developers gave it a different definition resulting in worse consequences.

Oh no, local developers were not buying part of the back garden but buying houses with big gardens and, with the help of our local urban planning expertise, they managed to bulldoze the houses/gardens and build multi-storey apartments eliminating all the green areas within the living zones.

This is a phenomenon that has gathered momentum during the last five years and has now even spread into tranquil villages such as Lija and neighbouring areas. This is leading to unsustainable environment.

Traditional urban planning included large green areas within a quarter (bounded by four streets). Most of the built quarters had only a third that was covered by a building print, the rest being made up of yards and gardens full of citrus trees and summer fruit trees. I happened to live in such a sustainable and peaceful environment and I thank God for it, only for man to destroy it.

I used to wake up in the morning to the song of birds. I used to enjoy the heavenly smells arising from the back garden and I stood there for a few moments simply watching nature come to life; it was so poetic.

Most of the new generations are born and being bred in apartments with limited space. What space is available for children to play in these new concrete abodes? Most towns and villages in Malta have very restricted and limited open space for recreation. Children are stuck in apartments with no physical exercise, contributing to the national obesity problem.

Over-crowding is also being experienced within these concrete habitats with increasing tension and psychiatric problems suffered by all family members.

Some bright boy might say: Oh, yes, exercise areas are being provided. Look at the skating park. Whose intelligent idea was it to set up a skating rink in the centre of the busiest traffic junction in a heavily polluted area? Youngsters end up inhaling contaminants at a faster rate than normal! Is it true that the Ministry for the Environment is financing this deadly project?

As more back gardens are destroyed, water catchment areas are restricted and the absence of wells is causing the demand for potable water to rise, can Mepa confirm that all new buildings have a rainwater reservoir?

Even dogs and cats have suffered from this garden grabbing and fauna has been bulldozed to oblivion to make way for newly developed areas. How many of our children have daily contact with living fauna? How many are able to hear a free bird singing in the morning?

Now garden grabbing has been extended to outside development zones, under whatever excuse. Worse still is the sending of letters to household owners telling them that, thanks to higher buildings, they are profiting from an increase in the value of their property. Is this not inviting the mechanical diggers to come in and destroy what is left of side and back gardens?

Can we stop all this destruction of back yards and gardens? When the Environment Division was twinned with the Planning Authority I thought finally we shall have a coordinated effort to safeguard our environment. Having a qualified urban environmental planner as minister responsible for the environment gave me more hope. But to no avail.

In 10 years, Mr Pullicino could have done much more and not wait for the last moment to propose some cosmetic changes to the Planning Act.

Can Alfred Sant confirm that the planning boards will be scrutinised in the same way he is speaking in terms of his future Cabinet if elected? Can Alternattiva Demokratika and, for that matter, all the other parties provide a blueprint of their urban planning agenda and the way this will be applied to safeguard the remaining sustainable environment in the most transparent and professional way?