Unbridled greed

We read with dismay your report about the proposal to demolish the Villa Macedonia, in Balzan. Din l-Art Helwa will certainly join the residents of Balzan in protesting strongly to the Malta Environment and Planning Authority against the destruction of this building to make way for 10 semi-detached villas.

The historic core of Balzan, an outstanding example of a classic Maltese village, is under assault. This case is symptomatic of the onslaught on Malta's village cores and traditional vernacular architecture which is daily being perpetrated across our islands. (The development next to Torri Gauci, in San Pawl tat-Targa is another example). Hence the need to highlight this case. It epitomises the unbridled greed which, together with poor governance and lack of political will, have characterised the rampant construction development and land abuse of the last few decades.

We must actively discourage land and building speculation of this kind. To those who would argue that the owner of Villa Macedonia should be free in a liberal market economy to maximise the potential investment on his capital as a consequence of his inheritance by seeking to build 10 semi-detached villas there, we would simply respond that in this field the qualities of thrift and moderation must replace the laissez-faire attitude of the last 40 years.

Change, an injection of reality, must come about which takes account of the paramount need to preserve the traditional spirit and architecture of our village cores. There must be an acceptance that in a country where 35,000 housing units lie empty we can no longer afford to over-house ourselves on a profligate scale even as our national birth-rate is falling.

The public interest - society and the community of Balzan as a whole - is best served in this case by the imposition of restrictions on any development at all in the village core and the scheduling and conservation of the Villa Macedonia and its gardens for the enjoyment of posterity. The best action is that which procures the greatest good for the greatest numbers. We now need to make individual sacrifices in order to achieve longer term gains.

Unrestricted and untrammelled land use, as exemplified by the Villa Macedonia proposal, constitute the unacceptable face of a liberal market economy. Sacrificing our historic village cores, distinctive landscapes and gracious buildings to the bulldozer and the jack-hammer in order to create over-development in place of one of the lungs of the village is no longer sustainable or acceptable if Malta is to remain a tolerable and civilised place in which to live.

We look to Mepa, which is our only bastion against land abuse of this nature, to do the right thing in the case of Villa Macedonia and to reject the application outright.