Residents of Attard yesterday gathered en masse to protest against an area next to the 18th century Villa Bologna which has been earmarked for development into a block of flats.

The residents are appealing to the Malta Environment and Planning Authority to revise the local plan and declare the area a non-development zone.

Later in the afternoon the authority said it would evaluate all development planning applications in accordance with established plans and policies, adding that local plans were approved policy documents that could be revised after two years.

Astrid Vella from Flimkien Għall-Ambjent Ahjar, stressed that until the last revision of the local plan in 2006, the area known as Ta' Fġieni, was earmarked as a public open space. Residents were told that it would eventually be landscaped.

However, the local plan was revised last year and the area was declared a development zone.

"This was not at all clear in the public consultation," Ms Vella told a news conference. However, Mepa yesterday denied that the land in question was ever earmarked as a green area or a public open space, saying that the draft local plan always showed that the area was earmarked for development.

Mepa said it never received any objections from Attard residents or the local councils during the public consultation period or afterwards. But in a counter statement, Ms Vella said that two Mepa designs had depicted the area as 'a widening of the road and a car park' while another proposes it as a 'green area'.

She said the local council had repeatedly assured residents that site would be landscaped as a public or a recreational area and residents had made clear to both the authority and the local council their wish to have an open area.

Nationalist MPs David Agius and Charlo Bonnici as well as local councillors from all three parties on Attard's council joined forces with the 50-odd residents in the mid-morning protest in front of the land.

Also present were Alternattiva Demokratika spokesman on sustainable development Carmel Cacopardo and former Attard mayor and historian Henry Frendo.

Attard mayor Norbert Pace was not seen at the protest and he could not be contacted for comment.