From Ms A. Vella

Following last Saturday’s Flimkien Ghall Ambient Ahjar (FAA) press conference calling for rezoning of Pjazza Fgieni in Attard, Mepa issued a statement saying that the area was never earmarked as a public open space.

It is true that it was the local council that repeatedly assured the residents that the area would be retained as a public open space as late as 2007 when it must have known that it had been rezoned as a building area in 2006.

However, Mepa confirms that its Local Plans have long shown the area proposed as a public car park. Since when is an on-road car park for public use not a public open space? Does Mepa have to resort to such ridiculous legalistic splitting of hairs in order to justify the unjustifiable?

Mepa claims it has never received submissions regarding this area during its public consultation re the Local Plan review, however we now have evidence that a group of local residents submitted a petition against the building up of this area in 1999, which a witness saw in the relevant Mepa file in 2002. This covers the period of the review of the Local Plan, which ran from 1999 to 2002.

Mepa justifies its rezoning of this large site by quoting a pocket of land the size of a large roundabout nearby which has been identified as a “green area”.

The fact remains that while Mepa has concluded that 2.4 per cent of every town should be dedicated to recreational space, Attard has only 1.3 per cent.

How can Mepa justify taking more of that away?

How can Mepa claim it “acted diligently when it slightly amended the zoning after the public consultation exercise” when we have found no less than 16 Local Plan policies that clearly recommend against such rezoning including: “The Central Zone has one of the lowest levels of provision of recreation and sports facilities within the Maltese Islands. This implies that existing facilities should be protected, as their loss will inevitably be irreplaceable.”

Finally, and the cherry on the cake, Mepa categorically denies that the parcel of land known as Ta’ Fgieni in Attard was ever earmarked as a green area. The attached Mepa map clearly shows part of Pjazza Fgieni, off Lorenzo Manche Street, designated by the words “Green Area”.

This goes beyond playing with words. It pains us to say that Mepa has been less than truthful with the public in the past, like when we were told for months that we had no right to view Heritage Advisory Committee reports, until we found that right enshrined in the Development Planning Act. Similarly, we were told that the Heritage Inventory Database cannot be seen online as it is only available in print version, when we ourselves had copies of the electronic version (which has still not been made available to the public).

For how long can the authorities allow Mepa to get away with all this? Is our elected government taking no steps against public entities issuing misinformation? This is not only an offence against the public but also against honest officials whose statements become similarly and unjustly shadowed with doubt.

This has to stop and FAA expects immediate action to be taken to rectify this situation once and for all.

Astrid Vella