Ħondoq ir-Rummien on the outskirts of Qala is one of Gozo’s most scenic and picturesque beauty spots.  A secluded swimming spot almost like no other, it’s almost difficult to believe the level of threat it is under.

It is under threat not from the natural environment, but from the man-made – from the prospect of rampant development.

A planning application dating back to 2002 proposed to turn a massive part of the area into what is effectively a luxury village – one which will be bigger than Qala itself – complete with a hotel, casinos, up-market apartments, and a yacht marina.

The proposal was enabled by a change in Ħondoq’s status in 2006: it went from being and Outside Development Zone (ODZ) to a zone where touristic and marine-related developments may be permitted.

Its status remains such, and while the aforementioned planning application has been refused, an appeal against that refusal is still ongoing.

It would truly be a national tragedy if this application were to be accepted.  Besides the seismic environmental damage that this proposal would have, the project itself would signal the arrival of the supposed “modern age” in Gozo – a “modern age” which has already arrived in Malta, turning the island into a land driven by construction and development, leaving its people suffocated between buildings which rise every higher and an environment which grows ever smaller.

The solution here is very simple: Ħondoq needs to be changed back to an ODZ.

It’s a campaign being fronted by Qala mayor Paul Buttigieg – a man who brings principles before profit, and who Malta and Gozo need many, many more like.

“Prime Ministers told me that I can put my mind at rest on Ħondoq, but I will only put my mind at rest when it is turned back into an Outside Development Zone,” Buttigieg told The Malta Independent on Sunday in an interview.

He is absolutely right.  Later in the interview he made it a point to mention that this isn’t a party-matter: the PN may have been the party which changed the area’s status, but the PL has been in government for eight years now, and has not changed it back either.

It’s a very simple matter – all the government needs to do is change the local plan for the area.

It’s high time the government acts in favour of Malta’s environment and people in an issue like this, and puts it foot down to show that it is not some big developer who is in power, but that it is the people.

The people are fed up with developers wielding so much power.  They are fed up with finding construction sites everywhere they look.  They are fed up with losing more and more of the country’s environment. They are fed up of having a political class seemingly more content with greenwashing rather than taking truly important decisions on the environment.

Turning Ħondoq back into an ODZ is not going to solve that: but it is a very good place to start.