Momentum backs Marsaxlokk council opposition to Labour manifesto proposals
The party said it would push for legal amendments, designed to protect communities, if elected to Parliament
Momentum has backed Marsaxlokk Local Council opposition to two proposals for the area outlined in the Labour Party’s manifesto.
It also pledged to table legal amendments designed to protect communities should it be elected to Parliament.
The party said it “applauded” the council for going against the proposals on aquaculture and maritime activity in the area, despite it being a Labour-majority council.
On Thursday, the council said it was concerned by proposals outlined in the Int Malta manifesto, published earlier that week, which includes plans for a new Aquatic Resources Malta building near the Port Ruman residential area.
The council also called for urgent clarification over proposals linked to the Marsa phase of the Grand Harbour regeneration project, asking whether maritime and industrial operations currently located in Marsa would be shifted to Marsaxlokk.
“When a Labour-led council has to write to the press to defend its own residents from a Labour manifesto, the question is no longer about colour”, said Momentum.
“It is about who actually counts when decisions are made in this country. The answer, once again, is not the people who live there.”
It said the council was right not to accept decisions that could damage its bays or impact the quality of life of residents. “Momentum agrees, fully, because no community should be treated as the overflow for problems the State has refused to plan for.”
The challenges facing Marsaxlokk echoed those of Pembroke, the party said, where residents are opposing plans to develop a large plot of land for use by the Valletta Football Club.
Emphasising its consistency on issues facing residents, Momentum stressed that “public land belongs to the public”, while stressing that communities be consulted before plans are drafted, “not after they are signed off”.
“No manifesto, from any party, should ever be the first time a village hears what is being planned for the land beneath its feet”, the party said.
It said that if elected to Parliament, the party would push for a constitutional amendment banning the sale of public land for commercial use, for “genuine local council autonomy in planning” and legally required “meaningful community consultation”.
Momentum candidate Mark Philip Camilleri Gambin, who is running for election in districts 3 and 11, said residents “come last under the duopoly” of the two main parties.
“They came last in Pembroke. And now they come last in Marsaxlokk, where land was quietly transferred in July, and revealed to the public only when the manifesto was published two weeks before polling day”, he said.
“Momentum’s answer is the same in every locality: residents first, public land protected, real consultation before any plan is signed. This is a Bidla ta’ Vera [“true change”].”