The Minister for Gozo and Planning, Clint Camilleri, has stated that he has signed the final documentation for the Local Planning Review for Ħondoq ir-Rummien, granting it its long desired protected status.
This documentation still needs to be brought before the Parliamentary Committee for its final approval so that the amendments to the 2006 Local Plan for Gozo and Comino can be officially confirmed.
Minister Camilleri recalled earlier in January that the Planning Authority launched a public consultation process to change the area of Ħondoq ir-Rummien from a development zone to an afforestation zone. The Minister mentioned how the Government had already declared this zone to be a Special Conservation Area once this consultation process ended.
"This is the highest level of protection and environmental safeguard that our country's environmental laws can offer," Minister Camilleri said, "The Government is legally and officially recognizing this area's natural importance by protecting its biodiverse areas filled with many different habitats and protected species like carob trees and mature olive trees."
"We will see a change in the local plan in order to eliminate possibility that an individual or company brings forward a planning application in this area," the Minister added, "This is another electoral promise we are fulfilling, a promise that will ensure that this site continues to be enjoyed by future generations."
The Minister recalled that, over the last few months, several other areas across Malta and Gozo have either been given the highest level of environmental protection or have had local plans altered to mark them as protected sites.
As examples, Camilleri listed the environment of il-Qortin ta' Isopu, Nadur, il-Ġebla tal-Ħnejja and il-Ġebla tal-Fessej in Gozo, and a stretch of land in Ħal-Far. The area in Ħal-Far was an area formerly intended for industrial development that has since become a buffer zone for a larger zone classified as a Natura 2000 site.
Qala Mayor Paul Buttigieg said that the dream of many, following a 20-year legal struggle, has now become a reality. He described that through this news, the beach and surrounding areas will continue to be enjoyed by the public after the final document was signed earlier today, prior to the Parliamentary Committee's pending approval.
Buttigieg thanked the Government, entities, and all concerned people who worked on this now concluded case.
Back in August last year, the Qala local council had sent a formal request to Prime Minister Robert Abela for the area to be expropriated into a national park amidst fears that its previous private ownership posed a great risk in the beloved area being developed. Mayor Buttigieg had backed this proposal a week before this request was made and was a central figure in the area's 21-year saga coming to an end following the Court of Appeal's ruling to reject a developer's proposed mega-project for the area.