'We will fight this obscenity’ - Pembroke residents oppose football club plans
Pembroke is 'under siege', activists warn
Pembroke residents will gather tomorrow in opposition to government plans to hand over a large plot of land to Valletta Football Club.
Residents of the locality are “up in arms” about the plans, which will see a vast stretch of public land handed over to the club for the construction of several facilities, activist group Moviment Graffiti said in a statement.
The group said the plot of land is situated next to a Natura 2000 site – a network of protected environments across the EU.
Tomorrow’s event will highlight residents’ environmental concerns and the impact of the project on their quality of life, which the party described as “already overburdened by unsustainable projects”.
Hundreds of people last month signed a parliamentary petition objecting to the plans to transfer what they described as “beautiful virgin land” to the football club, following a government announcement of the plans in February.
The plans will see the development of a “football campus” on a plot of land close to Triq Gabriele Henin, Moviment Graffiti said.
In a Facebook video, Moviment Graffiti described Pembroke as “under threat” from the plans to build two football grounds capable of hosting thousands of spectators.
The group warned the plans would also bring “mass events” to the locality, such as large-scale events such as concerts and other shows, while allowing for hotels, shopping malls and restaurants to be built “right next to residents’ homes” and on green land.
“The effects will be devastating,” the video warns, pointing to “severe noise and light pollution, major traffic problems, destruction of natural land [and] a collapse in quality of life”.
Pembroke was “already under siege” from “monstrous developments”, Moviment Graffiti said, while warning that the locality could “beceome another Paceville”.
It said sports facilities could be built in alternative locations without impacting the environment or residents’ quality of life.
“We, the residents of Pembroke, will fight this obscenity with all our strength,” the video says.
Residents will gather on Triq Gabriele Henin tomorrow, Saturday May 23, at 11am.