Partit Demokratiku has presented a motion in Parliament calling for a revision of the hunting and trapping hours at Majjistral Park.
The motion was filed against Legal Notice 300/17 and was co-signed by Godfrey Farrugia and Marlene Farrugia.
The Majjistral Park is a protected area of public interest where many visitors go to enjoy the beautiful, natural and quite setting, and to experience its ecological, socio-cultural and recreational values, the motion says.
Partit Demokratiku notes and deplores the fact that the Ministry of Enviroment has breached article 55(1) of the Environment Protection Act when it issued Legal Notice 300/17, whereby the regulations pertaining to hunting and trapping hours in the Majjistral Park were extensively increased.
Article 55 (1) states clearly that any such regulations:"shall not be made unless a draft of the said regulations has been issued for public consultation thereby allowing any person a period of at least four weeks to make representations to the Minister or to the Authority or to both, stating how in his opinion the proposed regulations could be improved to reach their ultimate aim."
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Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar asked why increased safety concerns at the Majjistral Park have not been addressed.The extension of hunting hours has brought about a greater risk of incidents such as that which recently took place in Maghtab, where a much-loved family pet was shot and eventually died due to shot gun wounds. With a greater concentration of hunters in the vicinity of visitors to the park, many of them children, there is a greater possibility of similar occurrences.
In this regard FAA has filed a Freedom of Information request asking for a copy of the Impact Assessment Framework for Subsidiary Legislation completed by the Ministry before the publication of the legal notice extending the hunting and trapping hours at the park. This form must be compiled before any subsidiary legislation is enacted.
It should include a description of the environmental, social and other impacts that the proposed legislation is expected to have. FAA asked "Were the risks correctly assessed in this form? Or was it not compiled at all?"