What has been happening in Malta over the past two or three decades is best described as an accident happening in slow motion.

To add to the folly of tens of thousands of vacant apartments built purely for speculation, the latest outrage in the ongoing concretisation of Malta is the proposal to build a supermarket outside Xewkija when spaces exist for the construction of a supermarket within the village. Even if, as claimed by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, this supermarket will be within the development boundary, construction of this commercial development on precious agricultural land in the Xewkija valley verges on blasphemy and is totally incompatible with the idea of Eco-Gozo.

Besides being an eyesore in the countryside, supermarkets a distance away from where people live go diametrically against social, health and environmental principles.

Before the advent of supermarkets, small neighbourhood grocers, butchers, green grocers and corner mini-markets served an important function by providing a social focus for people, especially the elderly.

Building a supermarket within a town might be marginally acceptable, even though it inevitably forces a number of local shops to go out of business.

On the other hand, building supermarkets some way outside a town or village is no longer acceptable. These put shopping out of reach of the elderly (or the less well-off with no car) while continuing to eliminate the social focus previously provided by small neighbourhood grocers and shops.

Our village and town life is being systematically undermined.

Previously frequented town and village centres are getting progressively emptier of people as neighbourhood shops continue to fall victim to large supermarkets.

This depersonalising of villages and towns is robbing urban life of its vibrancy. Social connectivity and community spirit are becoming things of the past.

Long distances between where people live and where they shop has made car use obligatory – adding to pollution and carbon emissions and further encouraging obesity.

Many, especially the old, fear going out in deserted streets because they feel unsafe. This brings to mind the recent mugging of a Sliema resident in the middle of a densely populated residential area.

What now needs to be taken into consideration is that populations are starting to age and that promoting physical and mental health of the aged will soon assume tremendous economical and health significance.

The World Health Organisation is urging the development of “age-friendly cities” to encourage active aging by optimising security and participation of older people in towns and village life in such a way as to enhance quality of life as populations age. Distant extra-urban supermarkets totally contradict the principle of “age-friendly design” in a world where older people are not only going to be more numerous but will also be living longer.

The recommendation is now for a “compact city” in which everything, from culture and shopping, medical services and leisure spaces, is within walking distance, enabling everybody to keep active, to keep walking while they are able and to remain engaged in civic life.

An out-of-reach (except by car) supermarket no longer has any conceivable advantage whatsoever to offer and only serves to further deprive the less privileged and the old of their nearby grocer, robbing them of their independence.

In the circumstances, if a permit is granted for such a supermarket, it will simply indicate that Mepa is unaware of current realities, putting money before health and ignoring the social, health and environmental impacts of such developments.

This pandering to big business – and profit for the few – is being done at the expense of peoples’ well-being.

As long as this sort of development continues to be given the go-ahead to accommodate big business, so will the future of our towns and villages, not to mention an aging population, become more bleak.

Soon, Malta will not be a country worth living in if the ability to lead a healthy lifestyle and the fabric of life continues to be systematically eroded in the name of profit.