Alternattiva Demokratika Chairperson Dr Harry Vassallo said that it is a profound injustice to deny any community a fair hearing on matters which will affect its future. “In projects large and small across the country public consultation is being avoided, devalued and foiled,” Dr Vassallo said.

Speaking to a gathering of AD supporters in Munxar, Gozo, Dr Vassallo said that “from the village square or the playing field of Munxar to massive projects such as that in Fort Cambridge in Sliema, the waste recycling plant in Marsascala or a public garden in Safi, local residents are being treated with contempt. They are being shamelessly deceived and treated like fools,” Dr Vassallo said.

Dr Vassallo said that “It is shameful that the people of Munxar are consulted with one set of plans for their village square but their council then applies for a permit with a radically different proposal.”

He added that “It is more than shameful that a project for 386 luxury apartments in the heart of Sliema should be contemplated without consultation with residents. It is absurd that the site selection process for the Marsascala waste recycling plant was a sham which would not deceive a child. A site in Safi which had been earmarked for years to be part of a public garden has suddenly become a development zone regardless of the many years in which no application for development was allowed.

“It appears that the government has now even given up the pretence of consultation and is planning to eliminate the need for Environmental Impact Assessments on several classes of projects perhaps because this is an election year.” Dr Vassallo said.