Part owner of the 250-year-old garden in Ghaxaq earmarked for certain development contacted The Malta Independent to clear up some statements following the objections raised by FAA about a proposal to construct apartments on the site.

The site is on Triq Il-Hatem.

Flimkien Ghal Ambjent Ahjar had declared itself against the development, and through an objection form available for the public to sign, state that “the development will effectively reduce the Grade 2 scheduled garden to less than 20% of its original size, making the PA's 2013 decision to warrant it protection through scheduling meaningless.”

John Paris, the part-owner of the property in question however, said that this is not the case. He said that roughly around 25% of the garden will be built up, and the rest, 75% will be left as an embellished garden. Today, he said, all there is, is an abandoned overgrown field.

He said that as an owner, he likes the property and as such would be against the whole property being developed, rather wanting to create a beautiful complex.

The adjoining Palazzo, he said, will also be refurbished and repaired, he said.

He also mentioned that the scheduling of the site occurred after the Outline Development Permit was granted, and mentioned that it would have made more sense if the scheduling was done before-hand, before the family would have gone through the whole Planning Authority procedure. “Why did they wait for years, for us to apply, go through the process etc. in order to schedule it,” he asked, adding that this was unfair.