The rationalisation process

I refer to the letter by Lino Busuttil (August 18) in which he sings the praises of the manner in which towns are developed in mainland Europe and the UK, stating that "urban areas are typically blended with rural or forest areas mostly with star shaped boundaries to benefit from the surrounding greenery".

According to a report by the European Environment Agency entitled Urban Sprawl in Europe - The Ignored Challenge (November 2006), European towns expand on average by five per cent every 10 years. (A land area equivalent to three times the area of Luxembourg). The European Environment Agency (EEA) expressed concern at the extent of urban sprawl in Europe stating that "urban sprawl should rightly be regarded as one of the major common challenges facing urban Europe today".

Given that last year's rationalisation process is binding for 10 years, this means that it is the only change in the development boundaries that is being carried out locally over a period of almost three decades. This works out to 0.8 per cent over a period of 10 years. More than that, if one takes into account the reduction in boundaries done by a Nationalist government in 1988, there has been a net reduction of area within the development boundaries.

Regarding the site at Iklin to which Mr Busuttil is objecting, it is fully complaint with the Cabinet's criteria because it is bounded by development on three out of four sides. Moreover, there are residents of Triq Geronimo Abos in Iklin who are daily subjected to high levels of traffic because the road connects Naxxar with the Birkirkara bypass. Apart from satisfying the Cabinet's criteria, a change in the development boundary was included at Iklin to provide for a road at the periphery of the settlement. This will relieve Triq Geronimo Abos from significant levels of traffic to the benefit of residents. The government appreciates that this may be detrimental to some owners of property but one must look at the overall picture. This is precisely the national interest to which Mr Busuttil refers in his correspondence!

Mr Busuttil argues that, "Rounded, triangular or square shapes in villages' boundaries only exist in Wonderland." The criteria for the release of new land as was being adopted by Mepa in the various local plans and as subsequently proposed by Cabinet were specifically intended to halt urban sprawl and reduce the possibility of further sprawl at a future date.

The EEA report confirms that this approach is in fact the correct one. What Mr Busuttil terms as "star-shaped boundaries" are in effect patterns of growth which planners in Europe consider to be urban sprawl.

Had the Cabinet adopted criteria on the basis of the "star-shaped boundaries" that Mr Busuttil is recommending, the increase of developable land would have been significantly more and would have almost certainly been detrimental to the Maltese countryside.