Updated 1.10pm, adds PN councillors' statement
Plans to build a drive-in cinema on agricultural land in Marsascala outside the development zone are “completely unjustifiable” and should not be up for consideration, Moviment Graffitti said on Tuesday.
The plans propose the removal of soil from the land to make way for roughly 56 car spaces as well as an inflatable 16 by eight-metre screen.
The site will also include a control room, a staff room and bathrooms. The removed soil will be stored in nearby fields.
The application, which can be viewed under permit number PA/08833/20 using the Planning Authority's eapps service, has received hundreds of objections in the days since Times of Malta first reported about it.
“In what has become a daily assault on rural and agricultural land, following a series of road-widening projects cutting across hectares of arable land and gobbling up the few remaining pieces of virgin land left on the island, more take-up of farmland for a private, commercial enterprise is totally unwarranted on every level,” activist group Moviment Graffitti said.
It said that such a massive footprint in ODZ land can never be justified, more so when considering that the site proposed for development also lies in close vicinity of the historic Torri Mamo and the San Gaetano church.
The group also raised concerns about further environmental degradation, soil erosion and degradation, noise and light pollution, with the activists saying the traffic that a drive-in cinema would attract would completely change the rural character of the area.
There was also the “real possibility” that, if approved, the application would set a precedent and lead to further commercial development of virgin land in the area, it said.
Moviment Graffitti also pointed out that if the project, which was most likely inspired by the present situation, fails to keep momentum once the COVID-19 pandemic is over, the damage done would be irreversible because there’s no bringing back the soil and farmland sacrificed for a seemingly useless enterprise.
Such a development can easily be accommodated in other sites that are more suitable and that have already been commissioned for development, it insisted.
“The people’s anger is rightly justified. More take-up of virgin land in close vicinity to historic buildings for a drive-in cinema is totally unwarranted. Our country has already suffered enough loss of agricultural land at the hands of megalomaniac developers and arrogant government agencies. which continue to run roughshod over the public’s right to enjoyment of the natural environment and a good quality of life,” it said, as it urged the Planning Authority to listen to the anger of the people.
Disrespect to residents and the environment - PN councillors
PN Marsascala councillors John B. Camilleri and Errol Cutajar said in a statement that this application continued to show disrespect towards Marsascala residents and the little remaining untarnished environment around the locality.
They said it was shameful how love for money had removed all sense of decency. The proposal would continue to deface the town which had seen unbridled development and enormous blocks of concrete developed to the detriment of residents who invested in solar panels.
Such buildings were, according to the government, intended to expand the economy for which the people of Marsascala, who had lost their tranquillity, were paying.
It was clear that more such proposals were to be expected in the town further reducing the standard of living of residents and filling unscrupulous people with money.
The PN’s sectoral committee of Marsascala appealed to the people not to remain submissive to such arrogance and abuse of power.
The downfall of politicians who allowed power to rise to their heads will be unexpected, it said.