Moviment Graffitti welcomes White Rocks park, warns of wider planning threat
NGO welcomed the decision to make the site a park, but reiterated its call to withdraw Bills 143 and 144
Moviment Graffitti welcomed the decision to transform Pembroke's White Rocks complex into a national park, yet the NGO reiterates its call to revise the controversial planning reforms.
"Parks are no replacement for a healthy environment in the places we live," Moviment Graffitti said in a statement on Wednesday.
During his budget address in parliament on Tuesday, Robert Abela announced the White Rocks complex will be transformed into a national, open and green park for families.
He said he would cancel the public call for a development on the 450,000 square metre site "immediately", and said the government will build the park while also transforming Manoel Island into a national park.
"While we wholeheartedly support the establishment of new national parks at White Rocks and Manoel Island, these should not be - and will not be - accepted as a fig leaf for the destruction of our streets, towns and villages," the statement continued.
Moviment Graffitti said it was a pity that the major positive steps towards a better, healthier environment were made against the backdrop of legislative changes that threaten to engulf local communities with endless construction.
Bills 143 and 144, and a legal notice, were published in the summer and immediately met with strong opposition from activists.
NGOs, grouped under the name Ġustizzja Għal Artna, say the proposed reform bulldozes environmental safeguards and gives the Planning Authority wide new powers to approve development that is currently not allowed by local plans.
Last week, Times of Malta reported that NGOs and the government had edged closer in talks to revise the proposed changes, yet one key clause remained a sticking point.
What could White Rocks look like as a park?
The NGO said it applauded the government's recognition of the potential of the White Rocks site and its invitation to collaborate with environmental NGOs to ensure the park is not only implemented but done so by competent and accountable entities.
Back in 2020/21, Moviment Graffitti collaborated with the Faculty for the Built Environment and other groups on a project to image different uses for White Rocks.
The NGO included some renders and sketches developed by students on how they would imagine White Rocks.
One sketch includes the White Rocks Complex transforming into a campsite, with the abandoned buildings hosting classrooms, surrounded by an open and green site.
Another sketch includes a large open sports ground.
A render of students idea of what White Rocks could look like. Photo: Kyle Mangani and Matthew Grech