It is good to note that, soon after an NGO launched a call for financial assistance to enable it to challenge a Planning Authority decision regarding Fort Chambray, enough funds were raised for legal action to be taken.

In a statement last Monday, Moviment Graffitti said that the funding target to take legal action against the decision to demolish the British barracks at Fort Chambray, which overlooks Mgarr Harbour in Gozo, "has been reached soon after the funding had opened".

The NGO said it plans to appeal the "obscene decision" along with other NGOs, and around 200 benefactors had raised the €5,000 needed for such action to proceed.

Last December, the Planning Authority "betrayed the interests of the people" by approving the demolition of historic barracks in the fort in order to build apartments and an aparthotel in their stead. Moviment Graffitti remarked that the PA's decision was made with the consent of both the Government and the Opposition.

"Despite the fact that the Maltese political class has sold our public spaces and historical heritage, we will continue to do our best not to allow greed to win over the common good," the NGO stated, as it added that "the fight continues".

That the money required for legal action to be taken was raised in a little time shows the level of opposition that exists against the project. It's not only those 200 people who have shown their disdain towards a decision that should have never been taken. There are many more people who are disgusted that part of our history will make way for a development project. And, unfortunately, it is not the first time that this has happened.

Once again, greed has won, with the benediction of the two major political parties.

The development is for the construction of a 5-star aparthotel with 64 ensuite rooms, 50 serviced apartments and ancillary amenities; 105 "high quality Class 1 residential units with highly landscaped pedestrian environment and the creation of a new public piazza," as well as part demolition of the existing underground parking levels, including excavations to extend further the existing two parking levels to accommodate garages for private use and car parking spaces for public use."

As if we do not have too many of them already.

In an editorial we wrote about the subject a few weeks ago, we had said that the project "is another, all too common, sacrifice at the altar of development."

And it has not been the only one and neither will it be the last. Someone once said that the Planning Authority is more like a Permit Authority. The PA's defenders say that the façade of the barracks will be saved as it will be relocated and preserved. But this is certainly not enough.

The NGOs will now take legal action in the hope that the law courts will decide in their favour and reverse the PA's decision.