Kaizenlog

The Times Thursday, 10th July 2008
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080710/letters/disappointing-decision-on-fort-cambridge-1
Disappointing decision on Fort Cambridge
Michael Briguglio, AD local councillor, Sliema

As a Sliema local councillor who participated in the recent Mepa board meeting which approved the Fort Cambridge development, I must express my disappointment on the way the decision was taken.The Mepa board refused to take serious consideration of the concerns of the Sliema local council, Alternattiva Demokratika - The Green Party, NGOs such as Flimkien G€  ±all-Ambjent A€  ±jar and Qui-si-sana/Tigne’ Residents Association and of various experts and residents.In particular, certain Mepa spokesmen played with words regarding the absence of a proper social impact assessment (SIA). Such an impact assessment is required especially since the Tigne’ area is already characterised by overdevelopment. It should comprise a scientific sociological survey of residents and other stakeholders as well as a sociological analysis of impacts of the proposed development on the community’s quality of life in terms of lifestyle, pollution, transport, community life and access to open areas. It is pertinent to note that all Sliema local councillors from the three political parties agree with the need for an SIA, and, consequently, when consulted by Mepa, the Sliema local council emphasised the need of this study.During the same Mepa meeting, consultants for the Environment Impact Assessment did not give valid reasons to justify the impact of the development in terms of air quality due to construction and increased traffic pollution.Besides, the issue regarding impact of the high-rise buildings was basically played down by Mepa by displaying a couple of photomontages.Above all, it is very strange that Mepa had already prepared a press release stating that the development was approved, when the Mepa board meeting had not even started. The public awaits an explanation in this regard.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Welcome to Kaizenlog.com If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed , Twitter You can contact us by using the contact form or submitting a comment. You can also share this post with your friends by clicking on the 'ShareThis' button above. Thanks for visiting!

 Print This Post

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 12th, 2008 at and is filed under Malta.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.