As if the current onslaught on our evanescing ODZ areas at the hand of sprawling fuel stations was not enough, we now have to contend with myriad other piecemeal incursions into outside-development zones, the so-called ‘death by a thousand cuts’ phenomenon.

The ruins of a dilapidated farmhouse in Marsalforn should not be used as an excuse to give the green light for a boutique hotel encroaching on the valley below.

Take two pending planning applications, PA 06835/16 and PA 0054/18. The former refers to a proposed boutique hotel in an ODZ area in Marsalforn, on the footprint of a dilapidated farmhouse, and the latter refers to the proposed erection of greenhouses, an agricultural store, pump room, reservoir and rubble walls (as well as the sanctioning of a gate) within an ODZ area in Munxar – a headland much cherished by ramblers along one flank of St Thomas Bay.

In Marsalforn, the existence of ruins of a dilapidated farmhouse is being used to advocate the approval of a hotel which would overlook, and partly spill into, the extensive valley meandering all the way to Victoria, by virtue of its vantage point, thus extending the already untenable urban sprawl of Marsalforn.

What the proposal for Munxar would entail, behind its innocuous façade, is the further parcelling and screening off of open countryside, behind walls and gates, creating a precedent for further development in contiguous areas as per a well-known script already played out on numerus occasions for other sites.

The scale of this ongoing piecemeal onslaught on ODZ areas is such that these two planning applications in the spotlight were not the only ones to be published within the same cohort. Additional ones included PA 07739/17 (proposed agritourism project involving stables, a bird sanctuary, site afforestation and a mass sanctioning of structures already on site, in an ODZ area in Qormi); and PA 09057/17, proposing the sanctioning of an animal farm in Żebbuġ (Malta).

These shenanigans by applicants in a bid to obtain an ODZ permit had been anticipated by environmentalists when the latest revisions to the ODZ policies were ushered in, in 2014. It is high time the same policies are overhauled, to stem the proliferation of small-scale ODZ development coming in all forms of guises.

Hemming nature in

It is short-sighted indeed to have approved a four-storey development at Xemxija, literally a stone’s throw away from the Simar reserve, since the development complies with height limitations for this within-development zone site. It turns a blind eye to the context of the site.

Simar is designated as both a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and as a Specially Protected Area (SPA) by virtue of its ecological and bird population importance, such that it was included in the Natura 2000 network of protected sites. Birdlife Malta rightly argued that the intense disturbance that would invariably accompany the construction of a four-storey block, along with increased vehicle flows and a heightened demand for parking, is not congenial to the site’s status as a bird sanctuary.

Avian concerns aside, the progression of further construction in areas contiguous to the Simar reserve will effectively mean that the reserve will end up eventually hemmed in by development, albeit on one flank (given the impossibility, at least to date, of building along the other flank of the reserve), severely denting the natural context of the reserve.

Our idea of a nature reserve – no buffer zone, completely hemmed in by development, as is the case at il-Magħluq in Marsascala. Will Simar follow suit in Xemxija?

Two analogies spring to mind. One is Il-Magħluq pond in Marsascala, which has effectively been relegated to an urban backyard surrounded by apartment blocks. Another is an architectural gem dating back to the Baroque period, for example, which is utterly stifled by an encircling concrete jungle.

Planning policies might have religiously been adhered to, but the logic and wisdom of allowing apartment blocks to inch closer to a nature reserve/bird sanctuary, simply to play by the book, is nowhere to be seen. Natura 2000 sites should enjoy adequate buffer zones if we are to avoid ending up with token nature reserves which completely fail to serve their ecological and ecotourism roles.

Indoctrinating the young

The annual partisan charade on campus is finally over. Weeks of hollow ‘campaigning’, as SDM and Pulse would call it, are finally over and academic life can resume without the superficial rantings and ravings by both camps.

Both the Labour and Nationalist parties should know better than to splurge on both student organisations and to ratchet up the partisan factor at such an impressionable age, when university life is the most congenial period for the faculties of freedom of thought to develop within our youth unshackled by party positions. One wonders what tangible legacies will be left of such wasteful campaigns, apart from increased waste management flows and token initiatives?

And no, witnessing such partisan and divisive exercises on campus is not healthy and is definitely not representative of a ‘democratic’ society, especially in a country like ours where partisan considerations are a perpetual source of division as a result of overkill. This was rightly recently highlighted by world-renowned vlogger Nas Daily, who expressed his amazement at the levels of partisan bickering in Malta. A greater political engagement by university students is to be supported, but this should be fostered in a non-partisan environment.

This won’t happen anytime soon, with the partisan indoctrination of our younger generations starting off even at Sixth Form as a result of the lowering of the voting age, with the result that the bandying about of partisan slogans by students within Secondary School is becoming all too frequent.

alan.deidun@gmail.com