ADPD - the Green Party pledged to fight to save the little that is left of agricultural land.

“As long as there is the last remaining fraction of a square metre of land that can be saved, we will continue our fight to safeguard agricultural land and stop senseless development,” ADPD – The Green Party Chairperson Carmel Cacopardo said at a press conference in L-Iklin where once again agricultural land is being given up for construction.

Parliament can still stop the destruction of a substantial part of the 2 million square metres of land that the Nationalist Government slated for development in 2006. It is futile that the parties in Parliament declare their love for open spaces when both have refused to reverse immediately the 2006 rationalisation plan, Cacopardo said.

Cacopardo said that we are seeing a continuous assault on agricultural land. In spite of all the nice statements that one finds in the Acquisition and ownership of agricultural land reform White Paper published earlier this week, permits such as for this site in L-Iklin continue to be granted for large tracts of land that until 2006 were considered outside the development zone.

The attack on agricultural land goes on unabated. It is pertinent to point out that both Prime Minister Robert Abela and PN leader Bernard Grech have declared their position against curtailing development zones. Both the Partit Laburista and the Partit Nazzjonalista work hand-in-hand in protecting developers: both support the destruction of arable land and are ready to sacrifice quality of life at the altar of greed. Farmers always get the short end of the stick – whoever is in Government.

There are also the local plans, which are not fit for purpose since they do not consider the cumulative impact of proposed developments. There is an urgent need for these to be revised. If our members of parliament truly have the citizens’ quality of life at heart, if they sincerely believe that we should save the little that is left,  if they honestly want to protect farmers, and if they meaningfully value open spaces, we invite them to present a parliamentary motion for the local plans to be revised and for the 2006 rationalisation exercise to be scrapped. Unfortunately we know that none of the current MPs are going to do this.

On ADPD – The Green Party’s part, as long as there is the last remaining fraction of  a square metre of land that can be saved from senseless development, we are going to insist that development zones are reversed to what they were prior to 2006, and that the local plans are revised without delay, concluded Cacopardo.