The futility of public domain consultation – Tara Cassar
Last Tuesday, the Planning Authority issued the public consultation for the two sites it is recommending for inclusion within the public domain. The sites being recommended include a coastal area in Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq (limits of Naxxar) known as L-Għadira s-Safra and the Domus Romana and a small parcel of surrounding land within the area known as Ta’ l-Għeriexem and il-Marġ in Rabat.
These two sites are the only ones being put forward by the Planning Authority for consideration for public domain status for the years 2017 and 2018. But they were by no means the only sites recommended throughout that period.
Public domain sites can be proposed by eNGOs and Ministers. Every year, a consultation exercise is then meant to be held for the public to submit their comments on these proposals.
In 2017, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar (FAA) had submitted a request for the protection of a vast expanse of land stretching from Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq to Pembroke.
The application covered no less than 1.845 million square meters of land.
To put that sum into perspective, the stretch of land known as L-Għadira s-Safra being considered for public domain status by the Planning Authority covers just 15,500sqm. It is less than 1% of that proposed for public domain status by FAA. The 15,500sqm is even less impressive when one notes that around 4,000sqm of that land which makes up the foreshore (defined as 15 meters of land inwards of the shoreline), is in fact already automatically considered to be within the public domain.
In the report accompanying the recently issued public consultation, the Planning Authority attempts to explain why the vast expanse of land along the coastal stretch from Pembroke to Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq (as well as others) was excluded from this exercise. Simply put, according to the Authority, following ‘guidance’ from the Attorney General [AG], only government-owned land is being considered for public domain status.
For the sake of argument, if one were to accept the AG’s ‘ guidance’, it still would not explain why the entire stretch of land from Pembroke to Baħar iċĊagħaq was completely excluded from the public consultation exercise since according to the PA’s own report, just under half of this land proposed for public domain is in fact government-owned.
Half of 1.845 million square meters of land would still be almost 60 times the size of the land being proposed at L-Għadira sSafra. This government-owned land includes Pembroke’s Natura 2000 site, which is already designated as a Special Area of Conservation. It also includes the vast tract of natural open space designated for St Patrick’s Park. This land also happens to be the site where Infrastructure Malta is proposing to build the entrance to a tunnel which will serve future major developments around St George’s bay, including the infamous DB-towers.
There is absolutely no justification for having excluded this government-owned land from the public consultation exercise, which has sadly left very little for the public to actually be consulted on.
The feebleness of this exercise is even more evident when one notes the difference with how the Planning Authority carried out the first (and only prior) public domain public consultation on the initial batch of proposed sites back in 2017.
FAA and Friends of the Earth Malta had in 2016 proposed 23 sites for public domain status. An additional site was proposed by the Minister for the Environment at the time, Dr Jose Herrera, making the total number of proposed sites 24. The public consultation concerning these sites (issued in 2017 by the Planning Authority) included each and every single site proposed. Over 5,000 people had voiced their support for the proposals.
Sadly, despite the relatively extensive public consultation process, the people’s voices were ignored as three years later not a single one of the 24 proposed sites was given public domain status. ENGOs repeatedly called for action to be taken, however the Standing Committee for Environment and Development responsible for seeing the process through, has simply been dragging its feet with the whole exercise now having been seemingly shelved.
By blatantly excluding the government-owned land, stretching from Pembroke to Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq, from forming part of the current ongoing public consultation process, the Planning Authority has taken its disdain for public opinion a step further by effectively robbing the public of its right to even voice an opinion on this extensive stretch of land.
The fanfare surrounding this recent call for public consultation, when only L-Għadira sSafra and the Domus Romana have been proposed for public domain status, has irked many. It has come across as little more than a PR stunt, with the Planning Authority portraying itself as the instigator of environmental protection after failing miserably in safeguarding the public’s wellbeing and persisting on excluding them from their right to participate in the future and fate of their surroundings.