The Labour Party has been making some strong pledges to improve the environment.
Prime Minister Robert Abela launched his campaign with a bold €700 million pledge for green lung projects. The PL will also seek to purchase private property to convert into green spaces. It says it will introduce a skyline policy to better regulate tall buildings.
It is trying to paint a picture that it is changing, but two stories that emerged this week prove that this is just a façade.
If the PL was serious about changing things, then it would have done something about two questionable environment and planning issues that emerged this week.
The first, was the Planning Authority’s decision to grant permission for an enormous block of apartments near the Ta’ Sannat cliffs.
ENGOs have cried foul at how the permit was granted. Moviment Graffitti said that the application came after a long list of irregularities by the PA, “This project will damage the character of Sannat and threatens the cliffs and surrounding area. It was divided in three separate applications to evade the studies needed for big projects. This is completely illegal, yet the Planning Authority kept moving forward with processing the application as though nothing was wrong.” The project is by Gozitan Developer Joseph Portelli, they said.
The Nationalist Party said that this proves the Labour Party’s hypocrisy on the environment, and the party is right in this regard.
What is the Labour Party’s opinion on this development?
Perhaps it is time for an investigation into the operations of the Planning Authority on the many controversial projects that have been approved over the years?
The second, was the destruction of a large Aleppo Pine outside Mdina Gate. “This tree has graced the garden there for over a century, providing beauty and shade while reducing air pollution,” Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar (FAA) said. “Moreover it was protected by the Trees and Woodlands Protection Regulations 2018.”
FAA said that the planning application, “submitted by Nadia Galea Curmi, presumably for Infrastructure Malta, claims that no trees will be felled, therefore no permit for the destruction of this tree has been sought or issued by ERA. Incredibly, the applicant claims that this is not a scheduled site, when in fact, this Mdina site has the highest degree of protection in Malta, as a Category A, Grade 1 scheduled (protected) site, and Area of High Landscape value.”
The authorities must respond to this situation. More importantly, the PL must speak up about this issue. If it wants to portray itself as a greener party, then it needs to explain this situation.
If the Labour Party wants to present itself as pro-environment, pro equality, meritocracy, then it needs to put its money where its mouth is and start showing us this through its actions. Until that time comes, all it has said on these issues are empty words.
