The idea of transforming Floriana into a ‘garden city’ is very attractive. Floriana already has some lovely public gardens, including Argotti Gardens and the Mall. It was reported in this newspaper last week that a group of young architects have proposed building a road tunnel under St Anne’s Street, to get rid of the cars and turn the space above into a pedestrian landscaped area.

St Anne’s is probably among the most polluted streets in Malta due to the intense traffic flow and the high buildings on either side which create a ‘canyon effect’, trapping air between the two sides.

The ventilation of a road tunnel presents its own challenges; however, the idea of not seeing any cars, with a large leafy urban park just outside Valletta, is wonderful.

The second Floriana project proposed by this enterprising group, which is also very appealing and far easier to implement, is a redesign and greening of Pope John XIII Square, between the Granaries and St Anne’s Street. Today this bland and un­attractive space is home to the lovely 18th-century bronze statue of Grand Master Antonio Manoel de Vilhena, in its centre.

This monument has been attributed to one of the most accomplished Maltese sculptors of the 18th century, Pietro Paolo Troisi. It was originally sited on Manoel Island in 1736. The British moved it to Queen Square in Valletta in 1858, until it was moved again to be replaced by the statue of Queen Victoria in 1891.

Even the largest metropolitan cities often have spacious and beautiful parks that provide respite for both residents and workers

Its next home was outside the Mall gardens in Floriana, but in 1989 it was relocated to Pope John XXIII Square to make way for the Independence monument.

In my opinion, its current location is not nice at all and does not do justice to this magnificent baroque statue of one of the best-known Grand Masters of the Order of St John, who was also a great patron of the arts.

As is very clear from the whole debate about building a huge commercial development on arable land at Żonqor, a large and growing number of people are adamantly against pouring concrete over any more open rural spaces. Losing a referendum on an environmental issue by a whisker does not seem to have dampened anyone’s spirits. If anything, I think it has made people more determined.

Malta is already overdeveloped, and enough is enough. Besides rural areas, however, it is also important for more to be done about the greening of urban spaces.

Instead of new urban parks and less cars, we mainly hear about the uprooting of trees, such as those in the ditch underneath Castille, which have been removed to make way for buses.

It is not even clear whether the garden that was originally planned for the ditch beneath the entrance to Valletta is going to happen or not. All I have seen in that ditch so far is preparatory works for car parking spaces. It would be a great pity if this part of the city entrance project is not implemented, together with the landscaping and cleaning up of the bus terminus outside.

People spend most of their time in urban areas, and we do not have enough open, pleasant spaces and parks for recreation and outdoor activity. It is also too easy to knock down buildings and turn large mature gardens with soil and trees into small paved areas with a few miserable plants in plastic pots.

Apartments are here to stay, and there are many advantages to living in smaller spaces, but it would be much better if this was balanced by having public green spaces to enjoy and in which to relax. Even the largest metropolitan cities often have spacious and beautiful parks that provide respite for both residents and workers.

I must add a final word of support for MP Marlene Farrugia, who went out of her way against all odds at two meetings of the Parliamentary Committee for the Environment and Development, which I attended last week, to listen to civil society and embrace environmental concerns.

If only we had more MPs ready to take initiatives of their own, even at risk of facing an uphill struggle, to make Malta to a better place to live in. As I already mentioned last week, another MP currently striving to introduce changes to safeguard natural and cultural heritage is Jason Azzopardi.

The main opposition that Farrugia faced at the meeting was from her own colleagues, particularly MP Deborah Schembri, who should bear in mind that civil society was not present as the opponent of the government in some court litigation.

In different ways, everyone was there as representatives of the public. I would have expected the aim of all parties around the table – MPs, Mepa and civil society groups – to be the same, which is to promote the common good by strengthening the draft national strategy under discussion, and ensuring that adequate environmental safeguards are in place.

Sadly, this did not seem to be the common aim. The discussion was about the ‘Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development’, but actually the government should perhaps just drop the word environment and call it their ‘plan for development’. It looks as though the Ministry for the Environment is hardly involved in any case.

petracdingli@gmail.com

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