Not only was the government allowing “rare” open spaces to be built up, it was unwilling to help those trying to preserve them, Swieqi mayor, Noel Muscat, said yesterday.

Swieqi mayor Noel Muscat.

He was contacted by this newspaper after Planning Parliamentary Secretary Deborah Schembri said she would not be assisting the local council to set up a fund to purchase an open plot of land.

The council has been trying to turn the vacant plot, next to the Swieqi civic centre, into a public garden as the locality faces “constant development”.

Dr Schembri said she would not be assisting in the setting up of the fund as this was not within her remit. If the council wanted to move ahead with the idea, it should meet with developers working in the area to discuss with them paying a contribution, she said.

“The news that we will not be assisted on this is extremely disappointing.

“The government seems like it does not even want to listen to fresh ideas on how to help localities which are being attacked by developers,” Dr Muscat said.

It does not even want to listen to fresh ideas

In a meeting with the Planning Directorate last month, the mayor suggested that development permits for large projects in Swieqi be tied to a small financial contribution that would go towards the setting up of a “sorely needed” public square.

The fee would be put into a fund that could be managed by the authorities.

The council has long been calling for the vacant plot to be purchased by the government before it is targeted by property developers – a request which was also turned down.

“As a locality, we get the least assistance from the central government. We have close to no public services here. Swieqi is a changing locality with a growing population. We need help if we are going to be successful in turning that population into a community,” Dr Muscat said.

He said the council could have used the fund as a form of public private partnership to finance the square project. Other localities facing similar problems could set up funds of their own to finance similar projects, he added.

Dr Muscat has been vociferous in criticism of what he feels has been “the systematic overdevelopment” of the Swieqi area.

What was once a small residential locality, he said, had become a sprawling mesh of concrete apartment blocks.

The outspoken mayor had also caused a stir back in March when he accused the government of “discrimination” when it came to the provision of services and support offered to the locality.

Dr Muscat had said the council was mostly Nationalist, as was much of the locality, accusing the government of political sabotage in cutting it off from State assistance.

The government had strongly denied his accusations.