The Ramblers Association of Malta said in a statement today “that it is very deeply concerned at the raft of policies recently announced designed to favour developers and the construction industry, while disregarding the deleterious long term effect these will have on the environment; and at the same time paying unashamed lip service to ‘sustainable development.’
“One of these negative policies is the relaxation of building heights. However, our major concern is the draft ODZ policy document, now open for public consultation: http://www.mepa.org.mt/odz-policy [1].”
“The general tone of this document is to make it easier for construction in ODZ. Instead of sticking to the maxim that “ODZ is ODZ,” this new policy is a barely-disguised veritable onslaught on the countryside. Recent history has proved that, even with the existing legislation, a pile of rubble in a Natura 2000 site was turned into a villa. Stables and wineries mushroomed all over ODZ, in many instances on completely pristine land,” the NGO said.
This draft ODZ document will now make it much easier to construct buildings in ODZ areas. Ramblers said “the introductory paragraph, especially, is a give-away”:
“The spirit of this document is to allow whoever genuinely needs to upgrade or redevelop
an existing building or to construct a new one outside the development zone, in
conjunction with its use. This policy is to be used by the deciding board as a basis of its
decisions. However there may be particular circumstances where there is also a genuine need for more than the minimum thresholds and, conversely, where attention has to be given to proposed development in scheduled areas or areas proposed for scheduling. PROPOSALS WHICH ARE NOT ADDRESSED BY THIS POLICY DOCUMENT MAY BE CONSIDERED ON THEIR OWN MERITS BY THE DECIDING BODY IF IT FELT THAT THE PROPOSAL WILL GENERATE AN IMPROVEMENT TO THE AREA WHERE IT IS LOCATED.”
“The underlining is ours but the capitalization is not, it is in the proposal itself,” the NGO said.
Ramblers said it believes that when it comes to ODZ, the “Government should further tighten regulations, and, more importantly, enforcement, and not relax them further on the pretext of helping farmers. Malta is too small to play around with the little countryside that still exists.”
“Just two recent reports that are of concern to us are the approval of a massive 15-floor development on the Xemxija ridge, and the application for a private beach at Qui-Si-Sana on public land, i.e., land that belongs to you and me,” the NGO said.
“And what has happened to the Public Domain White Paper, launched late last year?” Ramblers asked. ” Even with its defects, this was a step in the right direction in giving back public land to the people. We have not heard anything else at all about this draft.”
“We strongly believe that the protection of the environment should be the overriding factor in any ODZ document, rather than finding new ways and means of encouraging its savaging. Politicians still need to be convinced that the environment is more important to our health, well-being, and our economy, than the building industry,” The Ramblers Association concluded.