The Curia’s Interdiocesan Environment Commission has said that a policy review of Ħondoq ir-Rummien in the Gozo Local Plan should be extended to cover the local plans for the whole country in order to “undo the damage” done in 2006.

The Commission is right in saying that we need to review the local plans. This must be done with an eye on sustainability, environmental protection, heritage protection, ensuring a skyline that makes sense and UCA conservation. To be quite honest, we also need to review planning policies with these aims in mind.

Far too often has this newsroom had to comment on the uglification of the islands. This is partly due to planning policies and partly due to extremely poor judgement by those sitting on planning tribunals, who carry part of the blame for the way the country looks.

Regarding Hondoq ir-Rummien, the Commission said it is “satisfied that reason and the common good had won over the limited economic interests [that the project would have brought].” One wishes that this were the case more often.

“Stopping the Ħondoq ir-Rummien project is not enough. There is an urgent need to be far more proactive in the way we take care of Gozitan heritage. The abandonment of the quarry and the environmental destruction around the bay should be addressed in a practical and concrete manner,” the Commission said, adding that it agrees with the investment being made for the restoration and regeneration of the site. The Commission is right and the issues must be addressed.

Moving on to the wider issues of the country in general, in order to change things, the system must change. By this, we don’t just refer to the planning system. Changes are needed in policies as stated above, but changes are also needed to give a stronger voice to the environmental and heritage watchdogs on planning decisions. But not only.

The construction boom didn’t come from nowhere. It was created by a rapid population increase which saw poor planning on the part of government to cater for it. Better forward planning could have meant that areas would have been developed better, could have meant that areas would have been built to look nicer. But sadly this did not happen. It seems like there was no plan, as is evident by the infrastructural issues the country currently faces. The government must plan ahead. Malta is limited in size, and the way we build matters. Aesthetics matter. Protection of the environment matters. Green areas within the urban sprawl matter.

We need to  protect and improve the environment for future generations. Do we want to leave a country in which they would be happy to live, or one where every corner they turn they are met with blank walls, no greenery and ugly aesthetics?