Residents file petition over football pitch on 'beautiful virgin land'

Updated at 7.05pm with mayor's comments

Hundreds have signed a parliamentary petition objecting to the transfer of “beautiful virgin land” in Pembroke to the Valletta Football Club.

The petition, signed by 444 people as of Thursday morning, calls on parliament to stop the transfer of the land, which will eventually be turned into a football ground.

Prime Minister Robert Abela announced in February that the government will be proposing the allocation of a site in Pembroke for Valletta FC to develop a “football campus”.

The Premier League club said in February that the football campus will be a first-of-its-kind sports facility in Malta, forming part of a holistic master plan aimed at delivering high-level sporting infrastructure.

However, Pembroke residents, led by Rita Zammit, are opposing the project.

“While I acknowledge the value of sports infrastructure and community investment, I believe that this proposal, in its current form and location, raises serious concerns that outweigh its potential benefits,” the petition, lodged by Zammit, says.

Speaking to Times of Malta, Zammit, who has lived in the locality since 1993, said the site she believes is being developed should instead be protected just like the adjacent Natura 2000 site.

While neither the government nor Valletta FC have said where the proposed pitch will be, residents believe it is the same site that was proposed for a new school in 2017.

At the time, hundreds of residents, the Pembroke council and then environment minister José Herrera had protested the Chiswick House School development.

“We’ve been fighting to protect this land for 30 years,” Zammit said. “They first wanted a business park, then the school. It’s a beautiful piece of land and should not be developed,” she said.

The petition, which was published on parliament’s website on March 28, also points to “the negative effects on residents’ quality of life”.

“The construction and operation of a football campus would likely result in increased traffic and congestion in surrounding roads, elevated noise levels from training, matches and events, and light pollution and general disturbance,” the petition says.

It adds that, at minimum, a decision on transferring the land should be postponed “until a comprehensive and transparent environmental and social impact assessment is carried out, alongside meaningful public consultation with affected residents”.

Zammit said that while the council supported opposition to the school some nine years ago, it has not yet given its position on the current issue, even when asked repeatedly in a recent public meeting.

She said that a council-led Facebook page Pembroke Residents, had not posted the petition after she submitted it to the administrators on Monday.

The petition was only published on the Facebook page after Times of Malta sent questions to the council on Thursday morning. 

The locality's mayor, Kaylon Zammit, said the Council called for a meeting with Valletta FC. After the meeting, the council issued a press release that listed all the information it had, and a few days later, a local meeting was held, where the project was further discussed. 

"Pembroke Local Council has always given residents a chance to give their feedback. As Mayor, I often meet with residents to hear their opinions/feedback about different issues, whether they agree with or disagree with a proposed project," Zammit told Times of Malta. 

"Our commitment is one - to protect the interests of all of our residents."