The Marsascala local council is calling on the government to commence its promised conservation plan for Magħluq, a neglected Natura 2000 site.

The council noted that it had received various complaints about the site, which falls under the responsibility of the Environment and Resources Authority. Residents and restaurant owners have raised concerns about rats roaming around and the general state of neglect, it said.

The accumulation of sludge and sand in the marshland is blocking access for the circulation of water, the council said, adding that over the years there have been several studies of the area.

We are on the eve of another summer, and no action has yet been taken

a plan of action which never got started, while the council only learnt about cleaning that should have taken place at the end of last summer through the media. “We are on the eve of another summer, and no action has yet been taken,” it said.

The council’s call joins repeated appeals in recent years to save the ecologically important site, home to the endangered Maltese killifish. Most recently, in the summer of last year, residents raised the alarm again when they spotted dead fish dumped in the area.

A spokesman at the Environment Ministry last summer told the Times of Malta that the ministry itself, ERA and the Parks Directorate were working together on the rehabilitation works planned for the protected site and species found there.

Magħluq fell under the Natura 2000 management plans which were approved in December of 2016. However, work on the marshland could only start once the dry, hot summer period was over, the spokesman said.