Renewed botanic row: It's all in a name

The Cospicua local council shunned a clean-up and tree-planting event at Ġnien Kottonera over the weekend because it is still irked that the garden's name had been changed.

The council had objected to the renaming of the garden, which was re-opened following renovation works in April 2007. It was formerly named Il-Mixtla ta' Bormla.

Over the weekend, the Rural Affairs Ministry held an activity in the garden, where there is space for about 1,000 trees to be planted. Cospicua council members were not present.

The Nationalist Party deplored the council's stance and said it was being partisan, putting the locality's interests before all else and discouraging residents from taking part in environmental activities such as the one in question. The majority of Cospicua councillors were elected on the Labour party ticket.

Contacted yesterday, Cospicua mayor Joseph Scerri said residents were still upset about the garden's name change because they believed the place should bear the name of the town. Mr Scerri said similar issues existed with other projects and activities in the area.

"The Cottonera Sports Complex doesn't indicate it's in Cospicua, for example. When the Boat Show was on last September, there was no indication on the promotional material that Dock No.1 is in Cospicua."

When asked whether there was some sort of stigma or fear of the use of names "Cospicua" or "Bormla", Mr Scerri replied: "Something is going on for sure."

The government had changed the garden's name without any requests or interventions being made by the Cospicua council, Mr Scerri said.

When contacted, a ministry spokesman said: "We are disappointed with the Cospicua local council's stance. The idea of the garden's renaming back then was to remove the stigma against the use of the Cottonera name." Cottonera refers to the Three Cities - Cospicua, Vittoriosa and Senglea - collectively.

"We're doing positive things and we don't want them to be spoiled by political arguments," the spokesman said.

Mr Scerri emphasised that his council never said they were going to "boycott" anything. He said the council would simply not take part in activities related to the garden until the name was changed to reflect where they are specifically held.