Providing the public with an opportunity to make its voice heard, the group intends to oppose the continued “uglification” of Malta by rampant, uncontrolled development through challenging the government by all means possible. The group also aims to ensure the government lives up to its commitments under the Aarhus Convention, which Malta signed in 1998 and ratified in 2002.

The Convention, signed by 40 countries, affirms the need to protect, preserve and improve the state of the environment and to ensure sustainable and environmentally sound development. The convention also grants the public rights regarding access to information and public participation and access to justice and focuses on interactions between the public and public authorities.

“We cannot afford to keep silent any longer, just looking on as week by week Malta loses more of its rural and urban heritage,” group representatives said yesterday at a press conference called in front of the gates of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority’s premises.

FAA aims to rope in concerned citizens from across Malta and Gozo with its motto of “the power of one, the strength of many” and to provide positive, viable alternatives to current policies and practices.

The group says that provisions need to be made to prevent the destruction of traditional village cores and urban   areas “by the demolition of old houses which are replaced by buildings or commercial premises totally lacking in character or architectural merit and not in harmony with their surroundings”.

Other areas to be targeted include unregulated development encroaching on what little is left of the islands’ countryside and what it deems the misuse of ecologically-sensitive open land such as Xaghra il-Hamra and Ta’ Cenc for speculative projects. Also within the group’s sights is the lack of enforcement against illegal hunting and trapping – activities that close off large areas of land and the seashore to the public.

Speaking at yesterday’s press conference FAA committee member Paul Cardona explained the action group is in no way opposed to MEPA, but that it believes the workings of the Authority could be improved upon and be made more transparent.

Contending that the public can no longer afford to remain silent as Malta loses one architectural gem after another, the group has presented a number of questions concerning the actions and workings of MEPA.

The group’s emphasis is not completely adversary. It has, for example, commended the recent urban regeneration initiative taken by the Housing Authority, which is investing Lm3 million to buy dilapidated housing stock in urban cores for regeneration into social housing.

“Until now the feeling has prevailed that nothing could be done to bring about change,” the group said in a statement. “People have felt helpless against the few who took these decisions, which has resulted in the continuing destruction of our surroundings. Each successive demolition was accepted with resignation since every development seemed to be inevitable – a fait accompli. In instances where people have objected or on the rare occasions when they were consulted, the matter was usually bulldozed through anyway in the highhanded way we have come to regard as typical of our rulers.

“Things have gone too far and there is increasing concern about the damage that continues to be done to our country. It is clear that new policies are needed, or existing ones reversed, to integrate all aspects of the island’s administration rationally and with long-term vision. Existing laws and regulations must be enforced with new vigour. Where needed, clear and unambiguous new legislation and a new Structure Plan for Malta, must be passed and enforced expeditiously. Elected officials must prove their commitment to policies that meet the people’s rightful expectations for the protection of our birthright.”

David Lindsay
The Malta Independent on Sunday - 9th April 2006