Residents call on Archbishop to halt seminary development immediately

In a petition, residents from Tal-Virtù and Rabat have submitted a petition to Archbishop Paul Cremona asking him to intervene immediately to stop halt the development.

In the petition, the residents called on Cremona to direct the seminary authorities to “enter into discussions with the Malta Environment and Planning Authority and with the residents concerned to find a solution that, as far as possible, is satisfactory to all sides.”

The petition was presented to the Archbishop on 2 February and, to date, has been signed by 225 residents, including Rabat mayor Sandro Craus and Tal-Virtù Administrative Committee chairman Lino Pace Bonello.

The signatories come not only from the ‘residential priority area’ of Tal-Virtù but also from the residential area of Rabat adjacent to the Seminary, the residents said.

In the petition, the residents argued that “as a result of the development, the Seminary school student population will expand from the current 260 to 825 students. The petition says this will generate an “exaggerated” amount of additional traffic in the residential streets of Tal-Virtù and Rabat to the detriment of the health and safety not only of the residents themselves but also of the children, parents and teachers of the Seminary itself.”

In the petition, the signatories called on the Archbishop “to carefully read the report by MEPA auditor Joseph Falzon about the way the Seminary development application was analysed (or to use the auditor’s own words) ‘was not analysed at all’ according to MEPA policies. In light of this, the seminary is acting on a development permit that, while issued legally, has no ethical foundation.”

The residents maintained that the application “was formulated hastily, without considering all its implications and without seriously looking into alternative solutions for the changes needed due to the reform in education.” They added that “this is not a question of being for or against the Church and its schools, and that with a little goodwill and a more open mind one can find solutions that satisfy both the residents and the reform.”