Unbridled development in Marsascala and the rest of the island needs to stop

The unbridled development taking place in Marsascala and other localities should be brought to a halt immediately, Malta’s Green Party said on Saturday.

Addressing a press conference in Marsascala, ADPD spokespersons referred to development permit statistics for last year published earlier this week, which show an increase of 30% over the same quarter the previous year.

The statistics showed more than 2,000 permits issued in the last quarter of last year, with Marsascala topping that list with more than 200 permits, mostly for apartments. 

“The lack of proper land use planning has plagued Malta for many years. Too much land has been developed: including a lot of arable land, as well as gardens and public spaces. We are duty bound to ensure that this is stopped,” said ADPD Chairperson Carmel Cacopardo.

“As a consequence, Malta – and to a certain extent even Gozo – has become one continuous mass of buildings. The destruction continues,” he said.

ADPD Public Relations Officer and Marsascala resident Brian Decelis pointed out that many of these applications were being made thanks to the rationalisation exercise of 2006 when large swathes of land, that until then were considered outside of the development zone, were slated for development.

This exercise had not included any environmental impact studies. In particular the cumulative impact of the proposed development had not been considered and the EU SEA (Strategic Environment Assessment) directive – that came into force a few days after the Maltese Parliament approved the rationalisation exercise – had been completed ignored, Decelis said.

Decelis underlined that although the exercise had been approved by the Nationalist Government, one would expect a Labour Government that claims it is in favour of open spaces and strives for a better quality of life, to reverse the rationalisation immediately so that undeveloped land is protected once again.

Cacopardo also highlighted that it was futile for the Government to invest €700 million in open spaces, if undeveloped land – including arable land lots – continue to be destroyed in a systemic manner. 

He added that at the same time there are many dilapidated buildings across our islands that may be rehabilitated and reused.

Apart from impacting the quality of life of residents, many other problems arise from overdevelopment such as flooding, as was seen earlier this month during Storm Helios, he said.

Fields that used to soak up rainwater have been destroyed, and as a consequence our roads are flooding and sewage overflows especially with heavy rainfall, he pointed out.