The government's lack of planning is leading to the loss of the benefits that open spaces have the potential to offer to communities, the Nationalist Party said in a statement on Monday.

It added said the current strategy does not include a clear and long-term plan for the maintenance of such spaces.

Nationalist Party MPs Rebekah Borg, Eve Borg Bonello, and Bernice Bonello said that aside from wanting to see the creation of more open spaces, they believe that the government must be able to keep those that already exist in good condition. They added that the success behind the creation of open space projects depends on their ongoing protection and maintenance as much as it depends on their initial design and implementation.

The MPs remarked that open spaces should be enjoyed by the Maltese and Gozitan people, "not left in abandonment".

"It is a pity that the government's only interest in open spaces seems to be in winning a few political points from PR and temporarily alleviating some of the criticism made regarding the environmental failure that it has led us to," they said.

The MPs continued that the government "must understand" that for these projects to be carried out, "hundreds of thousands, if not millions of euros" have been invested in them, along with the great fanfare around their inauguration. They said that if the government is not able to take care of these sites and continue to support them through the necessary maintenance, "then that money has not been invested but has been wasted".

They concluded that a government led by the PN "would do its best to ensure that there is good management of all these sites and start a continuous programme of protection and maintenance so that these open spaces can really be enjoyed by the people".

The MPs added that it is pointless for the government to continue speaking about new open spaces while existing ones end up abandoned.