Minister attends protest as ‘statement against’ proposed Pembroke school

Environment minister Jose Herrera has thrown his weight behind Pembroke residents who have for the past weeks been protesting against the proposed development of a school in an unbuilt field in the locality.

The protest was attended by some 350 residents, many of whom held placards reading ‘not for sale’, ‘make it ODZ’, and ‘keep it green’.

“I am here in support of residents in the area,” the minister said, insisting that government needed to do more to protect public land, and to ensure the sustainability of development on the island.

The project, which has been criticised by eNGOs like Kamp Emergenza Ambjent and Moviment Graffitti, would see Chiswick School relocate from the centre of a residential area in Kappara to Pembroke.

In a statement issued on Sunday, school director Bernie Mizzi said the school understood residents’ concerns about the school “occupying land that had been left vacant” when they had originally built their homes.

She added however that the school intended to open up its premises to the community outside school hours.

Mizzi said that the new school would occupy only “25 per cent of its allocated footprint”.

The government-owned plot in Pembroke was identified in collaboration with the Chiswick House School owners after other options, including existing buildings, were analysed. Mizzi said the chosen site forms part of a larger parcel of land that had been earmarked for development for many years.

On his part, Alternattiva General Secretary Ralph Cassar lamented over the fact that in 2006, the government of the time had refused to implement a Strategic Environmental Assessment, leading to a “cumulative effect of individual development”.

“The Strategic Environmental Assessment identifies and quantifies the cumulative effect of development and its relevance to Pemproke, which has also seen massive development in recent years,” Cassar said.

“The problem is mainly the fact that the development boom currently going on is giving no attention to the cumulative effect of so many individual developments. Everything is being weighed separately, and this is not the way things should be done,” he added, pointing to St Julian’s Pacevlle and Sliema as examples of “a lack of planning”.

“We need policies that increase open spaces and favour clean modes of transport, among other things.”

“In the end, the ball is in the government’s court. This is government land and if the government does not want this land to be developed, it’s easy to achieve; it just has to declare that he does not want it to be built up and the land is not handed over for development.”

The Pembroke Development Brief in the North Harbours Local Plan designates the plot of land for development and incorporates the whole designated area of unbuilt land, not just the parcel where the proposed school is to be located.