Seven environmental organisations expressed concern on Thursday at a proposal to turn the Fomm ir-Riħ rural hamlet into a tourist complex, under the guise of an agrotourism project.
The proposed project includes the demolishing of several existing buildings to make way for new suites, as well as the take up of fresh land for the construction of a number of new units.
As a grade three rural settlement, the hamlet receives the highest protection at law, making the proposal illegal.
In a statement, the Ramblers' Association, Flimkien Għal Ambjent Aħjar, Nature Trust, Friends of the Earth, Din L-Art Ħelwa, Futur Ambjent Wieħed and The Archaeological Society said that since the area in question was an outside development zone, the policies only allowed for bona-fide agrotouristic related construction intended to support an established and continuing farming enterprise.
The policy did not allow accommodation intended for agrotourism to be parcelled up into the 16 or so individual suites being proposed, and required the development to be compatible with the rural character of the area.
The demolition of certain vernacular structures and the construction of 11 individual buildings containing large expanses of glass was clearly not a project that could be considered to retain the character of the hamlet.
The road leading to the site was extremely narrow, buttressed by very ancient, original dry-stone walls, with very few passing points, making it virtually impassable for heavy construction traffic. This would inevitably lead to an upgrade of roads in the area, making the damage much worse than appears on paper.
Once the site was committed by development, this would set a precedent for future development on this site as environmental protections would have been deliberately weakened to allow for the elastic interpretation of existing policies.
The entire site area is 46,000m2, allowing for future expansion.
Fomm ir-Riħ is one of the unspoilt gems of the Maltese islands and nearby development was bound to compromise the landscape of this beautiful natural and cultural site, the NGOs said.
The view from the historic Victoria Lines running to the southeast of the proposed development also risked being marred by the resulting eyesore.
Fomm ir-Riħ bay already suffered from accessibility problems, with the public being forced to descend to the pebble beach through a dangerous route so that a nearby private residence could continue to restrict access to the only straightforward way of reaching the bay.
The proposed development was along the route leading to the promontory, so the possibility of further access restrictions to Fomm ir-Riħ in future was a genuine concern.
Any development project on such a site of outstanding natural beauty should never be considered, particularly given the rampant overdevelopment that the PA permitted over the last few years. It would certainly not serve the interests of the public, which lacked green open spaces and already suffered from an abundance of ill-thought out tourism projects.