EU Commissioner makes a point about Ta' Cenc

European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas has gone a step further in backing the conservation of Ta' Cenc, telling Din l-Art Helwa in a letter that no development can be allowed to significantly damage the site or the area's ecology.

The commissioner's letter is in response to a 10,000-signature petition raised by Din l-Art Helwa against the development proposed by hotelier Victor Borg. The petition was tabled in Parliament last November.

"The site of Ta' Cenc contains natural habitats and species of wild fauna and flora of Community interest," Mr Dimas wrote.

A judgment delivered in September last year by the European Court of Justice, he pointed out, made it clear that member states cannot authorise developments that may seriously compromise the ecological characteristics of a such a site.

The site has been at the centre of controversies particularly as it has been proposed for a golf course development.

In September, a significant portion - about 57 bungalows - of the development proposed in the area was dealt a mortal blow when Environment Minister George Pullicino intervened.

In a letter to the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, the minister had clarified that the local plan for Gozo and Comino bars new development in the area of Ta' Cenc overlooking Mgarr ix-Xini; precisely where the bungalows were meant to be.

One month later, Mepa announced it had proposed to place the cliffs at Ta' Cenc under the EU's Natura 2000 framework. The area had been left out of the first batch of protected sites submitted in 2004.

However, both Din l-Art Helwa and the Commission have declared they are not happy with the level of protection given to the area.

In December, the Commission said Malta still had to account in future for "certain well-identified insufficiencies".

Din l-Art Helwa executive president Martin Galea said the commissioner's letter was heartening because it showed that the Commission had recognised the importance of the area. "We now expect the local authorities to take note and properly schedule Ta' Cenc," he said.

"The government would do well to take a page out of the Commission's book and start protecting much of the countryside, which remains at risk today."

Mr Dimas pointed out in his letter that a development cannot be allowed in a scheduled area, particularly when it threatens to severely reduce the site in question or when it would affect species that depend on it. "These provisions apply even in cases where the designation process is on-going," he said.