Abela forces Marsaxlokk council’s hand over unpopular local council project

A spokesperson for minister Carmelo Abela has confirmed that plans for the Marsaxlokk local council’s new three-storey offices over a 900sq.m patch of a public school’s garden, have been scrapped.

In a meeting with Prime Minister Robert Abela and Marsaxlokk mayor Steven Grech, the local council withdrew its application for the new local council building amid popular disapproval for the project.

Grech said Abela’s administration will be assisting the council in locating an alternative site for the new premises.

It is yet another win for Malta’s environmental lobby in the midst of an electoral campaig that has seen Labour row back on plans for a controversial yacht marina in Marsaskala.

The Marsaxlokk local council project was even given the go-ahead even by the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA), which would have serve das a green light to the Planning Authority to accept a development that would destroy an urban open space enjoyed by Marsaxlokk school students and residents.

Malta’s environmental protection watchdog had told the Planning Authority that it will not be objecting to the development of local council offices in the Marsaxlokk school garden, as long as additional trees are planted to compensate for those which will be lost.

In its submission to the Planning Authority, the ERA acknowledged the concerns with on the uptake of part of an urban open space, but said the development was intended as a community facility inside a committed development zone.

BirdLife criticised ERA’s reasoning. While recognising that the school garden is within a development zone and the trees are not legally protected, “this does not make this project ethically or morally right”.

BirdLife CEO Mark Sultana said justifying the uprooting of old trees with a request to replace them in other urban area is “ridiculous”.

“The value of the trees to the children’s health, well-being and academic achievement cannot be uprooted and transplanted. There is no compensation that can ever be paid to the Marsaxlokk children and school staff for the loss of the countless benefits the garden is providing,” Sultana said.

The Marsaxlokk local council wanted to build a community centre on 920sq.m of garden space in the locality’s primary school, that will impact a number of trees.