Cottonera regeneration plans are shrouded in secrecy, according to residents, who are complaining it took an MP and the help of the local council to finally see them.

“Why should I have to struggle to get these things? This is not a small side road we’re talking about,” Miriam Fiorini, who has been living in the area for three years, said.

Ms Fiorini had been trying to get her hands on the plans for four weeks and had been through the usual channels, including the planning authority and the environment organisation Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar. However, it was only through the help of an MP and the local council she finally got to know what was happening.

Her protests were echoed by two foreign residents, contacted by The Times, who complained nobody seemed to know what was going on.

“I hope the builders know what they’re doing at least,” one resident, who preferred to remain unnamed, joked.

“These are things that should be made public. As a resident I should not suddenly see them cutting down the trees and blocking our road and I don’t have any idea what the plans are,” Ms Fiorini said.

Her neighbours, who are mainly foreign, all contacted her to find out what the plans were, thinking that, being a local, she would know.

She insisted she was not against the works but believed there should be information on billboards on how to access the plans. In this day and age, she added, such things should be available for the public online.

“We’re not against progress but we have a right to find out what is happening,” Ms Fiorini said.

She pointed out the works affected residents on more than one level and so it was essential they knew beforehand whether or not they would be able to access their road by car.

A couple who lived nearby, she said, had to carry out refurbishment works on their balcony but had to change plans when they realised the works would overlap with the area’s regeneration. Ms Fiorini brought her concerns forward when she noticed the trees were being cut down last week because they acted as a buffer to noise and pollution. At least, she said, when she saw the plans she realised other trees would be planted.

“All I’m asking for is a simple telephone number on a billboard that we can use to get more information or somewhere we can go to see the plans.”

In this way, residents can embrace the project and do not have to continuously struggle to get the information they need.

“We are part of what is happening, so keep us informed,” she said.