In recommending approval of PA 01692/16 to build 27 apartments on a single virgin plot, the Planning Authority seems determined to ruin the streetscape and quality of life of Lija, one of the last towns that has not been scarred by the uglification of Malta.
The DC 2015 policy that was touted as an enlightened planning guidance document, is repeating the mistakes of the Pullicino regulations which, by allowing four and five floors in Urban Conservation Areas, destroyed many of Malta’s traditional villages cores. As usual the PA is granting the developers the extra rights accorded by DC 2015, while ignoring policies that protect residents, such as the Transition solutions immediately outside villa/bungalow areas stipulated by DC 2015. The principle tenet of DC 2015 that the height and facade of the new building should reflect its context is being completely ignored by the PA.
This application is being decided in record time, just three weeks from public submissions, where a similar application in Sliema has been ongoing since 2009.
The Planning Authority Case Officer reports that the 30 metre limit of development from the street is being exceeded by two metres and actually justifies this excessive encroachment on the grounds that due to future encroachment “hardly any open space will be left” – that is all the more reason to ensure the legal limits are respected as of now! Encroachment beyond the legal limit was enough to bring a development in Balzan to a screeching halt.
Why all the differences with this case? Could it be due to the well-connected developer, Joseph Portelli? The involvement of architect, Joe Bondin is to be noted, as this architect had faced legal action over two separate cases of lack of ethics in architectural projects.* In one case a Magistrate had claimed that the authorities violated his fundamental human rights when they expropriated land he owned in St Julian’s in order to accommodate developers. In the other case in Żebbug, Gozo, FAA had highlighted serious irregularities in MEPA’s processing of applications submitted by this architect. Joe Bondin had also been involved in the Wied il-Ghasel case which stank from start to finish.
With practicing architects once again dominating Planning Authority Boards, a blatant conflict of interest that had been discontinued, and the growing hostility towards eNGOs, the Planning Authority is returning to the worst practices that had earned it the public perception of being the most corrupt authority in Malta. FAA again asks whether certain parties are being afforded special treatments and more illegal concessions.
In its adamant refusal to deal with issues of over-development, traffic generation, and rights to light and sun, the Planning Authority and the Office of the Prime Minister that runs it, are responsible for ruining the quality of life of residents in Malta’s urban areas.