Malta's public spaces are few and far between.  While strides have been made when it comes to public green spaces (although a lot more work still needs to be done), urban spaces which once used to be a cradle of the town or village community are no longer what they were.

We're talking, largely about village squares.  In many localities, the village square was once the centre for the community - a meeting place for all young and old.  Today, in many places, this doesn't exist anymore.

One such place is in Victoria in Gozo, specifically the square outside the St George's parish church.  This square has been effectively over-run by tables and chairs put out by food establishments which border the square, while access has been blocked by souvenir shops taking up the narrow streets.

Such was the lack of planning and even the lack of consideration that this rendered the square practically inaccessible: anyone wanting to get married at the church would have to walk it, while not even ambulances could get into the square.

In a case just last week, an elderly man felt unwell and fainted while eating at one of the establishments in the square.  The ambulance called to his aid could not enter the square as a result of the accessibility issues caused by the shops in the area, meaning that the man had to be wheeled through the streets in the stretcher in order to get to the ambulance. 

It is seriously undignifying to this individual that in a time of need he had no choice other than to be effectively paraded through the streets to receive treatment, simply because the greed of some establishments meant that this was the only way he'd have had access to it.

Now the Lands Authority has filed a masterplan to supposedly bring some regulation to how the square is laid out.  All this masterplan does, however, is simply validate what is already happening.

The Victoria parish, which is led by Fr Joseph Curmi and which has consistently spoken out against the current situation, was scathing in its criticism of that proposal. 

"This is not a master plan, but a plan that strips the people of their rights," the parish said in a statement.

"No one was consulted on this so-called 'master plan,' and the result is clear-rather than solving existing problems, it will only create more!"

The parish pointed out that funeral hearses, wedding vehicles, and ambulances will not be able to get to the square under the proposed plans and said that it proposes the impossible which contradicts Transport Malta's own policies.

The Lands Authority responded by saying that the criticism had been noted and that it would open a public consultation on the plans.  Now, imagine had the authority actually consulted with the necessary stakeholders before issuing a masterplan.  What a concept that would have been!

It's clear that right now the authorities' only interest is to continue the status quo so that those already benefiting from it can continue to do so - even if it is at the expense of the most basic human dignity that people should have.

It's high time that the authorities recognise that it's the interests of residents and the community that must come first, not those striving to make a fast buck at the residents' expense.

Let's have more squares for the people and less table and chair squares.