The Church’s Environment Commission said today that the planning complex of shooting ranges near Mt St Joseph retreat “cannot but have a negative impact on such a place.”

It said the peace and tranquility that the retreat house environment provides to the Maltese public deserves to be protected, not for the sake of the Jesuits but for the sake of the Maltese population.

It warned that the proposed project will also have a negative impact on the residents of Busbesija and Taż-Żokrija neighborhoods in Mosta. Some of these residents live a stone’s throw away from the proposed site for the shooting ranges.

“It seems that the promoters of the project are not in a position to provide a guarantee to all the nearby residents that they will not be negatively impacted by the project,” the commission said.

“Therefore Government and Mepa should adopt the precautionary principle. This means that when there is no real certainty provided by the developers that there will be no negative impacts by a development then policy makers should err on the side of caution.”

In a long statement , the commission said it was against promises and commitments which are made by political parties when in opposition or in government when such promises and commitments first need to be carefully studied due to their environmental impacts and land-use implications. Only after such studies are carried out can a reasoned and informed decision be made by decision-takers. This applies more importantly in cases where site-specific promises and commitments are made.

The commission noted that the shooting ranges complex is being promoted by the interested parties as a national project.

“But what constitutes a “national project” or a project of “national interest”? Is not Mount St Joseph Retreat House a well-established project of national interest in itself? For the last 50 years, the retreat house, together with its gardens and natural surroundings has been providing an environment where people of all social backgrounds, believers and non-believers, can find space and time to reflect on their life. Does a place which is visited by 10,000 people annually for such a purpose have no relevance to policy-makers?,” the commission asked.

The commission invited the proponents of the complex  to carry out an exercise on how the current shooting ranges spread over Malta and Gozo can be upgraded to accommodate individually the different components of the proposed complex. In this way, no new ODZ land would be sacrificed for this particular sport.

"To have all these facilities in one place just because there might be an international event in 2017 is not a good-enough reason," it said.