The Church Environment Commission heavily criticised the government’s proposed shooting range in an outside development area in Mosta, close to Mount St Joseph Retreat House.

“Land space is a limited commodity in Malta and those who live in the country – not the foreign investor – should determine where and how much space we want to dedicate to the investment,” it said.

It appealed to the government to “reconsider” the project and to make the nation’s well-being a top priority, even though it may entail “missing out on ‘lucrative’ deals with short-term gains”.

“Wise decisions taken now will prevent an irreversible impact on the countryside later on. The Maltese proverb aħjar uff milli aħħ [prevention is better than a cure] is well-suited for such a rethink,” it said.

Granting public land to individuals or entities has to be totally transparent

In a lengthy statement, the Commission declared that the shooting range would have “a substantial negative impact on the Maltese countryside” and criticised the fact that the complex was being promoted as a national project.

“But what constitutes a ‘national project’ or a project of ‘national interest’?” it asked.

It said that while attracting foreign investment was a laudable enterprise, “we have to be conscious of the price we sometimes have to pay” to attract such investment. Describing the proposal as “baffling”, the commission said promises and commitments made by political parties when in Opposition or in government, flew in the face of a proper planning process.

“Granting public land to individuals or entities has to be totally transparent because this has a bearing on proper environmental governance. Public land belongs to the whole nation,” it said.

It urged the “proponents of the complex of shooting ranges” to carry out an exercise on how current shooting ranges spread over Malta and Gozo could be upgraded to individually accommodate different components of the proposed complex.

It stressed that the planning authority should insist on this exercise when the development permission application was submitted to develop this private land.

“In this way, no new ODZ land is 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.

The commission also said a shooting range close to a retreat house “cannot but have a negative impact on such a place”.

“The peace and tranquillity that the retreat house provides to the Maltese deserves to be protected. This is not for the sake of the Jesuits, but for the sake of the population. Places in Malta like Mount St Joseph’s environment are very rare and have to be protected.”

It also highlighted the fact that the project would have a daily impact on nearby residents of Busbesija and Taż-Żokrija neighbourhoods in Mosta.

The commission suggested that prior to calls for expressions of interest for land owned by the State, the government should carry out a public consultation process on what would be the most appropriate uses for such property.

SPED ‘a flawed replacement’

The Church Environment Commission described the proposed Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development (SPED) as “a flawed replacement” for the current Structure Plan.

“Its current version is going to have a negative impact on present and future generations,” it said, stressing it had to be redrafted from scratch because it was “a far cry from the 1990 Structure Plan”.

The Commission said that sometimes the use of land in Malta was treated in a way which assumed the island was one of the least densely populated countries in the world.

“The facts point in the opposite direction. With a population density of 1,562 persons per square kilometre, Malta is considered to be one of the most densely populated countries in the world.”

This, it said, highlighted the importance of adopting a very rigorous planning approach within a proper strategic framework.