Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/683529
8 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 25 MAY 2016 News IN ALL LEADING BOOK SHOPS HISTORY OF ORNITHOLOGY IN MALTA 'Spring hunting must be banned, not suspended' - Birdlife CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 The government decided to open this year's spring hunting sea- son, in spite of a recent report by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) that shows that Euro- pean turtle dove populations have plummeted by 80% in the past 30 years. The IUCN now classifies the turtle dove – one of the two huntable species in Malta's spring season – as a vulnerable species. Cabinet is now discussing a recent proposal by hunting lobby FKNK to apply a mora- torium on spring hunting. FKNK CEO Lino Farrugua said on Saturday that a mora- torium would be the "lesser of two evils", when compared to a potential permanent ban fol- lowing EC infringements. He said that the FKNK would make use of a moratorium pe- riod to conduct studies that prove the insignificance of Malta's spring hunting season on the decline of the European turtle dove. "Around three million turtle doves are killed every year in Europe, while Maltese hunters are only allowed to kill 5,000 in spring; the percentage is less than 1% of the total number of turtle doves killed in Europe every year." Caserta said that he wel- comes the FKNK's commit- ment to launch a sustainability study, but that BirdLife would want to conduct its own paral- lel studies. "The more studies are car- ried out on the sustainabil- ity of a species, the better," he said. "A moratorium could be an interesting experiment, and we hope for more informed discussions with the hunters." BirdLife Malta yesterday urged the government to ban spring hunting outright, rather than simply suspend it. "Spring hunting has an ex- piry date, and the government should be courageous enough to take a decision that will ul- timately be supported by half the public, who had voted to ban it in last year's referen- dum," BirdLife CEO Mark Sultana told the press outside Castille. "The FKNK fear that spring hunting is coming to an end, and they believe that a mora- torium is the only way out. However, it will be a fallacy for the government to simply patch up the problem. The sci- entific data is out there, and it is undeniable that turtle dove populations have declined." tdiacono@mediatoday.com.mt Mark Sultana (forefront, right) urged the government not to risk an EC infringement over spring hunting Large DIY store proposed on Qormi fields JAMES DEBONO PLANS have been submitted by a group of developers proposing a Do it Yourself retail complex op- posite the park and ride in Qormi. The plans envisage the "relocation" of a historical mill room from its present location. All the soil in the area was cleared, in the absence of any plan- ning permit, last Autumn. It was only in January that the de- velopers presented an application to sanction the removal of existing soil for an archaeological investi- gation of the site. The soil will be deposited in the National Agricul- tural Research and Development Centre at Ghammieri in Marsa. The archaeological investigation was a condition set in a planning control application issued in 2013 earmarking the site for sports and community facilities and a home for the elderly. The historical mill room will be "relocated" to government owned land in the vicinity of the new com- plex. The area is zoned for parking, sports facilities and the devel- opment of an old people's home according to changes to the lo- cal plan made in July 2013, three months after the election. But now the developers have submitted an application for retail development and offices. Centre Park Holdings Ltd has now applied to construct two lev- els of underground parking, a level of retail and "Do it yourself " space and a receded floor of retail space and offices. The company is owned by An- thony Fenech of Tumas Group, Paul and Philip Caruana of Qual- ity Holdings Limited, and Vincent and Charles Borg of V&C Devel- opments Ltd. The architect of the project is Labour MP and Build- ing Industry Consultative Council chairman Charles Buhagiar. The proposal foresees road wid- ening works - as instructed by Transport Malta - and the demo- lition of an existing farmhouse af- fected by these works. The applicants also refer to the conservation of archaeological re- mains and relocation of a historic building (the mill) as instructed by the Superintendence for Cultural heritage. Immediately after the election in July 2013 the Malta Environment and Planning Authoprity approved a planning control application envisioning the change of use of the area to make way for a retire- ment complex, sports facilities, and parking area. Originally the Central Malta Local Plan indicated that this area could be developed as a soft landscaped area with un- derlying warehouses. The project includes two levels of underground parking, a two-storey DIY centre and offices