Din l-Art Helwa believes that the area of land in Ta' Cenc, Gozo, that deserves to be protected should be larger than what the Malta Environment and Planning Authority has proposed to the European Union.

Mepa said it had proposed that the cliffs at Ta' Cenc, an important breeding ground for protected birds, should be protected under the EU's Natura 2000 framework, along with most of Malta and Gozo's cliff areas.

Mr Galea feels Mepa has not gone far enough, given the particular natural and archaeological heritage of the area.

Din l-Art Helwa said that today it will present a petition with 10,000 signatures against a development application by the owner of the land, Victor Borg.

It will present the petition to the Prime Minister, the Environment Minister and to Mepa's chairman among others as part of its campaign lobbying for the conservation of Ta' Cenc.

The proposed development suffered a serious setback when Environment Minister George Pullicino publicly specified that the local plan would not allow construction in a certain area of Ta' Cenc. Mr Galea thanked the minister and the Mepa board for their stand but said Din l-Art Helwa was expecting the local plan to be amended in a way that ruled out any possibility of misinterpretation.

"Ministers change and so does the Mepa board," he said. The NGO wrote to the minister a few weeks ago about the matter, he added, but had not yet received a reply.

The pending application proposes the development of a new five-storey hotel, an extension of the present hotel, 49 bungalows along the ridge overlooking Xewkija and a heritage park, which would cover about 60 per cent of the land.

Din l-Art Helwa intends to contest most of the development. "Among other things we feel that the proposed five-storey hotel would be too close to the cliffs and that it could affect the bird life there."

Mr Galea called for the setting up of the heritage park as soon as possible and for it to be open to the public.

"Naturally, the land is private and we have laws that safeguard that right," Mr Galea said, "but the area is also of great national importance because of the heritage of the place, not least the natural heritage."