Residents balk at 11 storey “bastion-like modernist” development
Next Thursday will see what is expected to be a particularly contentious meeting of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority board when it hears an application to convert a large swathe of the Sliema seafront from low buildings to an 11-storey structure that residents have branded a “bastion-like modernist” residential development.
The application is for the Forestals site on the Sliema front to be demolished and replaced by 63 residential units.
But according to the Sliema Residents Association, if the application is approved the redevelopment of “the last long stretch of low-lying buildings in the Forestals area” will “close off forever all Sliema residents within an 11-floor high bastion-like structure around the whole perimeter of the town”.
The “major modernist development”, as the SRA puts it, spans from the Charella Home for the Elderly to the junction of Madonna tas-Sacro Cuor Street – replacing the Forestals store and the neglected small houses on the waterfront to the east of Forestals.
The two planning applications, PA 03613/10 and PA 02590/09, being discussed at the Mepa meeting on Thursday have been recommended for approval by the case officer who, the SRA charges, “has tried to dismiss the hundreds of objections raised by locals”.
The SRA notes: “These applications breach several Mepa policies and will detract from the architectural glory and surviving heritage of two adjacent scheduled sites – namely Villa Bonici and Belvedere Terrace.
“This new development will create over dozens of apartments (of two and three bedrooms each) yet no Environment Impact Assessment has been commissioned to study the problems such a massive development would have on the area and on the already chaotic traffic situation.”
“Sliema,” the resident’s association notes, “is already plagued with excessive pollution, congestion, noise, overpopulation, a lack of fresh air, a loss of privacy and gardens, etc., so why cram more into an already congested town? On the contrary, Sliema requires more open spaces – not more housing and commercial units, many of which stand empty.”
The association urged residents to give a clear message to the authorities to respect the social aspects of the country’s towns and villages, remarking that: “After all, Mepa is supposed to be a town planning authority charged with achieving sustainable and attractive development. It must not be seen as a rubber stamp which gives the go-ahead to such massive developments without due consideration of social implications now and in the future.”