A fait accompli at Santa Lucija

Abstract

The 'public consultation' exercise conducted earlier this week in connection with the proposed elderly people's residential home in an outside development zone (ODZ) area in Santa Lucija allows one to draw some interesting conclusions, as normally happens in head-to-head confrontations between proponents and opponents of a particular project. Firstly, the intransigence of the applicant in insisting with the same ODZ site in Santa Lucija for his four-storey development, spread over almost 4,500 square metres (or roughly half the size of a full-size football pitch) and rubbing knuckles with the Margaret Mortimer Secondary School, and on which the development of 12 maisonettes was refuted way back in 2007. This despite the fact that at least one alternative location has been proposed by detractors of the proposal, namely Catherine Polidano, who steered the Save Wied Garnaw campaign a few years back. The alternative location consists of a public area within the heart of Santa Lucija, in close proximity to the parish church and thus does not entail the further uptake of ODZ land. Its public nature, however, contrary to the privately-owned ODZ land earmarked by the project proponent, might probably be detracting from its attractiveness to the same proponent (on behalf of Healthmark Care Services) who is aiming to manage along commercial lines the proposed elderly people's residence. Additionally, the proposed alternative does not regale elderly residents with country views, as the ODZ location would, even though ironically the same development would have contributed in no mean fashion to obliterating the same views.