Letters to the editor - July 3, 2022

Burying the jewel

I write in response to Fr Charles Cini’s heartfelt plea for common sense in the mad rush in Gozo to despoil our island (June 26).

Frankly, I do not blame the Gozitans who, like any other human beings, when presented with a fistful of cash, would sell a decrepit property and not think of the consequences.

I do not even blame the minister for Gozo (although, as the title suggests, he is supposed to be for all Gozo, not the interests of the few). No, it is the Planning Authority – you know, as the name suggests, the ruling body which adjudicates on applications and has some clout.

This body, which should have the interests of all parties at heart, not only the applicants, not just the local communities who get severely impacted, but, also, all those whose aesthetic senses are assaulted by potential structures of outstanding unnatural ugliness, on an overwhelming scale and straight from the Soviet-era playbook! That is, all of us.

There are many nondescript old buildings around which, actually, could merit development. But, please, let’s not compound the error by erecting entities which multiply the original offence.

And create environmental chaos along the way.