Updated with angry reactions at meeting hosted by the Planning Authority.
A spokesman for 400 residents who would have their residential complex expropriated under the Paceville master plan this evening hit out at what he described as the “Napoleonic” land grab.
Speaking before a rowdy meeting for residents held by the Planning Authority to explain the masterplan, former Nationalist MP Noel Buttigieg Scicluna, who is representing 400 residents in the St George’s complex, said residents in the area had not even been consulted about the master plan before it was drafted.
One of the options under the master plan envisions the building of a road straight through the residential complex.
Mr Scicluna hit out at the master plan’s authors for not evening bothering to take into account the real situation on the ground.
He pointed out that the proposal to have developments within 15 meters of the foreshore was illegal.
He said the area needed a master plan, but one that was based on public consultation.
Activist Andre' Callus slammed the Planning Authority for shunting people out of their homes without even consulting them.
He said whoever had allowed to let the master plan see the light of day should be held responsible.
Mr Callus warned that if the current master plan was implemented, it would set a dangerous precedent where a small elite were allowed to decide how hundreds of peopled lived.
Several organisations were represented at the meeting in which calls were repeatedly made for the current masterplan to be scrapped and the related process halted immediately.
"Whilst we welcome the idea of a Masterplan, it has become clear that this Masterplan is structurally flawed and cannot be improved. Thus, it would be useless at best, and devastating at worst, to continue the process related to this Masterplan which can lead to its approval and implementation," Kamp Emergenza Ambjent, which organised the event, said.
"This masterplan envisages the displacement of people and small businesses to accommodate private interests. Despite envisaging such a dramatic impact on residents and small businesses, these have not been consulted at design stage. As a representative of Mott MacDonald (who drafted the masterplan) stated, the masterplan was developed entirely on the basis of “aspirations for sites”, that is, the developers’ wishes to develop specific sites in the Paceville area.
"This point alone invalidates the masterplan since it shows that this whole exercise was built on the wrong foundation. Development should serve the interests of the community and the environment, and not the other way round."
Those present for the meeting were Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, Moviment Graffitti, Front Ħarsien ODZ, Ramblers Association, Youth for the Environment, Nature Trust, Żminijietna – Voice of the Left and Friends of the Earth Malta.
Rowdy meeting
Meanwhile, the meeting for residents hosted by the Planning Authority got off to a rowdy start after PA officials wanted to split residents from different areas and NGOs to give their feedback in smaller groups. The residents and NGOs refused.
Officials then gave a 45-minute presentation about the masterplan.
PA executive chairman Johan Buttigieg drew loud protests when he said the masterplan could not be dumped or changed because it was still in consultation stage.
Plan still in discussion - PA
The public consultation on the Paceville Development Framework is still ongoing and the existing master plan is simply a working document on which a discussion can be held, the Planning Authority said in a reply.
At the end of the public consultation on November 25, the authority will review and take into consideration all feedback received. The plan will then be reviewed and amended according to this feedback and will be re-submitted for another round of public consultation, whereby the public will once again be invited to review and give feedback yet again.
During this time a Social Impact Assessment and a Strategic Environment Assessment will also be carried out. There will also be a public consultation on the environment report. The final report will be forwarded to the minister and reviewed by the parliamentary committee on Environment and Development, after which the final plan will be drawn up.
"It is absolutely not true that the executive chairman of the Planning Authority said that the masterplan could not be changed. Mr Buttigieg was adamant that nothing within the masterplan was set in stone."