Naxxar residents were still suffering from ailments such as asthma because there were no laws controlling dust emanating from quarries, the chairman of Alternattiva Demokratika, Michael Briguglio, has complained.

Speaking close to a quarry in Naxxar, AD candidate Silvan Agius said the town was effectively surrounded by quarries: a large one all along Triq il-Fortizza, another located between Naxxar and Għargħur and a quarry along Vjal il-Labour.

There was need of consistency between what the planning authority required from citizens and what it demanded from operators producing limestone slabs, Mr Agius said.

The green party’s spokesman on sustainable development, Carmel Cacopardo, said the Malta Environment and Planning Authority should give priority to the regularisation of such quarries because their operation was not compatible with the residential zones developed around them.

Quarries unable to control the dust produced from their operations should be closed down, he said.