Angelina to Victors rescue Snippets of my article to be published next Sunday in The Times - why presumably the filming at Mgarr ix-Xini (or so we are told) is costing us access to the entire Ta Cenc plateau The promontory at Ta’ Cenc is truly an idyllic place…..one of those rarified coastal locations on our islands where one ‘can get away from it all’, without the obtrusive sight of concrete. The unquantifiable value of the coastal asset at Ta’ Cenc is fully acknowledged within the Gozo and Comino Local Plan (GCLP), within which the safeguard of a pedestrian path running through the promontory down to the Kantra overlooking Mgarr ix-Xini is factored in. This pedestrian path links the Ta’ Cenc hotel to the villas area and, supposedly, public access to such a path should be ‘free and unhindered’. Well – with the police stationed round the clock at the entrance to such a path, supposedly to stave off prying eyes from the film set at Mgarr ix-Xini, access to the path is no longer so unhindered. Tourists and locals alike, who drove over to Ta’ Cenc for partake of the blissful atmosphere at Ta’ Cenc, or simply to catch a glimpse of the 5000-year-old Imramma Temples on the promontory, or even to walk their dogs or go for a stroll were forced to turn back on their tracks by the police presence on site. A number of emails and letters have been sent directly to the Prime Minister’s office by irate regular visitors to Ta’ Cenc, venting their anger at being cordoned out from their favourite haunt. So much for Map 13.6 within the GCLP which boldly designates the entire plateau at Ta’ Cenc as a ‘Coastal Viewshed Protection Zone’, granting public access along the entire coastal rim of the same zone. The main motivation behind the designation of such grand-sounding zones within the GCLP is that ‘. Wise words indeed, but nothing more than empty rhetoric I am afraid. Victor Borg, owner of the Ta’ Cenc Hotel, flanked by his Philadelphia lawyer, constantly underscores the fact that most of the area within the Ta’ Cenc confines are his and that he simply ‘tolerates’ ramblers and other visitors to his area. Presumably, he is not including paying hotel customers, who are free to roam about unhindered over the extensive Ta’ Cenc area and to even avail themselves of the services of a lido in timber at the Kantra peninsula overlooking the Mgarr ix-Xini inlet. The lido was strangely granted a permit over what previously was coastal garigue which partly enjoyed the highest possible level of scheduling, as boldly stated in the GCLP (Map 14-11e). Recently, Mr. Borg installed a number of gates to cordon off the paved approach to the lido and to the Kantra, again arguing that he was simply safeguarding ‘his property.’ Way back in 2005, Mr. Borg deemed fit to call in the police once again to impede a crowd of angry protestors from marching to the Ta’ Cenc promontory to vent their angst against ongoing proposals for a golf course on site. One wonders – doesn’t the police in Gozo have anything more urgent to do than to squander their time at Ta’ Cenc simply to tell people off? Mr. Borg will counter that he is not behind the latest gate-keeping exercise at Ta’ Cenc since the police are simply safeguarding the film set. But the mind boggles as to why the entire Ta Cenc promontory has to be declared off limits, lock stock and barrel. The dove-tailing between the needs of the film set (privacy) and Mr. Borg’s needs and requests )basically, that non-paying customers steer away from Ta’ Cenc) seems very coincidental and convenient as well. Could it be that the ongoing police presence at Ta’ Cenc, presumably in connection with the filming at Mgarr ix-Xini, is simply a dress rehearsal for the permanent privatisation of the coastline at Ta’ Cenc? We have been told to be patient, since Angelina’s film might lead to an economic watershed for the film industry in Malta – the public will be denied access to Mgarr ix-Xini for at least 3 months. Adding Ta’ Cenc to the list of no-go areas is simply adding insult to injury.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 05:57:33 +0000
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