I live in Iklin. This area is already an area extension of the greater Birkirkara town and surrounded by Dun Karm bypass and Naxxar bypass which take the bulk of central north-south traffic plus traffic crossing east west to Lija or Attard.

The few remaining open spaces are crucial for the area and thus the Iklin council’s proposal and permit approved under the former administration to build new offices in one of the few open spaces with trees should be withdrawn to prevent the residential area turning into a depressing concrete jungle.

No one in Iklin wants this development. The boundary characteristic of Iklin, with a green stretch, containing multiple traditional rubble walls and carob trees, which separate it from the north with Ibraġ/San Ġwann and from the west with Lija, should be permanently protected with no exceptions.

Iklin is already heavily loaded with traffic coming its way through bypasses and for commercial outlets facing Lija. The plot currently used as parking near JB Stores should be considered for a joint commercial multi-car park with underground levels, or else turned into a combined organised parking open space with the planting of some trees for shade and landscaping improvement.

A nationwide tree campaign should be launched to ‘Europeanise’ our dry and boring landscaping which has suffered a lot during the building booms of the 1980s and 1990s.

Local councils should be obliged to register all empty properties in their locality and build up data bases on the ownership of such buildings. The Housing Authority should then work out a scheme on how to buy back inherited empty properties, newly built unattractive empty flats, and empty townhouses to renovate them through tenders in a way that they will be turned into modern adequate and sellable units to couples or families in need of housing.

Land on a small island like ours is so scarce that we cannot afford to ignore this problem of empty property while allowing further development. This principle should also be applied to the dozens of empty factories in our industrial zones.