PN MPs slam government for refusing Villa Rosa debate in parliamentary committee

The Nationalist Party has accused the government of "hiding behind legal technicalities" when refusing a parliamentary debate on the Villa Rosa local plan changes.

The PN has asked for an urgent debate in parliament’s Environment, Climate Change, and Development Planning Committee.
Stanley Zammit, planning spokesperson, and Rebekah Borg, environment spokesperson, called out the government for refusing their request.

“The Labour government is preventing the committee from meeting to discuss the its plan for the Villa Rosa area in St Julian’s,” the PN MPs said, adding government was hiding behind legal technicalities.

“Robert Abela is responsible for all this, as like his predecessor, he is leading a government that operates in secrecy, where the interests of a select few are prioritised over the interests of Maltese and Gozitan citizens,” they said.

The shadow ministers were referring to government’s request for the Planning Authority to open a public consultation for a partial review of the Villa Rosa local plan.

The PN MPs appealed for more transparency, accusing the government of keeping people in the dark over its intentions for the Villa Rosa site.

PL denounces PN’s ‘hypocrisy’

The Labour Party hit back, calling the PN hypocritical for having extended development zones and changed local plans back in 2006 to allow areas like Hondoq and the Marsaskala bay to be developed.

“It was a Labour government that reversed development plans for Hondoq and Marsaskala,” the party said, adding the PN lacked credibility.

The PL said the manner by which the consultation process happens on local plans is well-defined at law. It accused the PN of disinformation, adding that the law mandated a two-step consultation process.

“The Labour government has always consulted even in cases where it was not obliged at law and it is committed to continue honouring what the law states on local plan revisions,” the PL said, accusing PN leader Bernard Grech of engaging in “cheap politics “.