A decision to turn the University sports ground in the university track into a car park for the short-term future has seen quite some backlash on social media, and the KSU President has highlighted the need for the country to move away from a mass car-use mentality.

The KSU – University Students Council – had posted on Facebook last week: “Following the situation students found themselves in due to the sudden loss of a large number of parking spaces, the KSU has lobbied to find a solution together with the University Administration. Although our long-term aim remains that of diverting the mentality from one of private-car use to the use of alternative modes of transport, such a situation is a particular one where the change has taken place drastically. For the short term and until actual construction works commence on the Sports Ground area which is planned for the start of the next academic year, the ground itself (not the track) will be used as a parking area to compensate for the loss of parking spaces. This gives KSU and the University more time to implement solid and sustainable alternative transportation methods which will ultimately allow for the decrease of the parking spaces.”

Construction at the university had caused part of the car parking area to be closed off, which resulted in this move.

This decision regarding the sports ground saw instant backlash on Facebook. One person said: “Each and every car coming in and out of the central pitch will compromise the session and safety of athletes using the already dilapidated track.” Another said: “I always thought that someday the student council would call for the ground to be turfed up and brought up to spec. It would have never crossed my mind, for the student council of all entities, to call for the sports ground to be turned into a car park! This is the ultimate symbol of car-worshipping couch potatoism arrogantly reigning supreme in our country.” A third person said: “So if I understand correctly, the proposed solution is to transform one of the only car-free areas, a place created for physical exercise, in a place to park cars. I'm sure all the personal trainers and people who use this area for exercise will be very happy with your solution. And I thought that this was a council which was trying to encourage exercise not hinder it.”

Some of Malta’s prominent environmentalists have also aired their concerns. Cami Appelgren founder of Malta Clean Up and MEP candidate, said “And at the same time Greta Thunberg, a 15 year old who is coordinating a climate protest worldwide.... We need you students to stand up against this. Be part of the change, not the issue. You are powerful, your voices matter! This is a bad way of doing it....”

FAA Coordinator Claire Bonello highlighted that the change of use of the University Sports Ground to a car park is in breach of the local plans. “A Nation's Failure. The University turns a sports ground into a car park. From now on please spare us the bull***t about health and exercise and sustainability”

A petition against this parking area decision already has over 1,000 signatures.

Student news organisation the Yuppie reports that the KSU had only found out about the loss of parking spaces from the university very late. They report that after communication between the university and KSU, a decision was taken to use the sports ground as a temporary car park. They also reported that the university had set a meeting with the KSU to discuss solid alternative transport proposals for next October.

The Malta Independent contacted KSU President Carla Galea about the situation.

Galea told this newsroom that the KSU has always aimed for there to be long-term alternatives in terms of transport to university. “That was always our aim and we asked for there to be more alternatives in place, that the university work with us to provide more long-term solutions. This alternative area, which is not a solution, was offered to compensate temporarily for the lost spaces.”

She said that it will be temporary as the ground itself is planned to be redeveloped and improved.

She said that this will be one of the projects being worked on by the university, adding that the KSU told the university of the need to keep people updated about these projects, and that the university said that they will be keeping the KSU in the loop. She said that eventually there will probably be a meeting where all stakeholders will be invited, so that they can be provide information on said projects.

Asked about the backlash seen regarding the temporary use of the sports ground as a car park, resulting in the track being dangerous to use, she said “we regret that this situation came about like this and we recognise that it did not go down well with some people. We are sorry that certain people feel that they are being treated in this world. We understand that and this was not our intention. Our intention was never to increase parking at university. As I said we always worked on alternative transport. But seeing it from another viewpoint, now we have both the university and the KSU working together to pressure entities to work on such alternative transport modes which could serve students in the best way possible.“

The University, she said, is not only going to start promoting alternatives with students, but also with staff. This has always been an aim of the KSU, for university to help market and improve these alternatives and place the necessary pressure on the respective entities, she said. She said that certain deficiencies that exist in these alternative transport modes need to be identified and issues fixed.

Asked about what kind of alternatives she is referring to, she said that the university should not just focus on one mode. To solve the problem long-term, she said, various alternative modes need to be used. “The council always offered a large variety of alternatives, including the park and ride working from Pembroke, which is currently being offered for €20 a month, there is also the car pooling option, subsidies on pedelec bikes, cycling, and others.

Asked whether the KSU really wanted this temporary take-up of the sports ground for parking, she said that this was more of a knee-jerk reaction to the situation, adding that there was a sudden closure of part of the university parking area. “There are many opinions on what should have been done to solve it. Some argue that we should have done nothing, and everyone figure out how they would come to university, and others who say that there needs to be a short-term solution until people get used to the alternative transport modes. Again we did this with no intention on focussing and increasing parking, but we are going to be moving on to other solutions and alternatives.” She again stressed the temporary nature of this situation.

“The good thing that came out of this however is that the whole country realised the gravity of the situation at the university, and everyone needs to recognise that this is not just a university problem, but a country-wide problem.” She said that the issue stems from the country’s mentality. There needs to be a national push to change the mentality, she added. In general, this dependency on the private car on such a large scale is not healthy, she said.