No full development permit was apparently required for the ongoing revamp of Castille Square: the Malta Environment and Planning Authority’s website shows that a development notification has been apparently sufficient.

The design of the revamped square has proven to be somewhat controversial if reactions from the public are any indication; people’s main gripe appears to be the removal of all the trees on site. But the short period between the project’s announcement and the commencement of work meant that there was little chance of the public’s reaction influencing the design.

As it turns out, however, such a sense of urgency may not have been necessary, as the latest development notification covering the site – for the “proposed upgrading of Castille Square and construction of monument to ex-Prime Minister Dom Mintoff” – was filed on February 2014 and approved a month later, suggesting that the government kept the square’s design under wraps for over a year.

That was the second development notification covering the same site under the same name: the first was filed in July 2013 and approved the following October.

What is known is that the proposed design of the square has changed considerably since January 2014, when plans leaked to columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia were confirmed as genuine by an Infrastructure Ministry spokesman contacted by The Malta Independent.

Plan A

The original plan would have still involved the removal of many of the trees on site, including all the trees on the roundabout and some of the trees in the flowerbed opposite the Auberge de Castille.

But it was less of an upgrade and more of a quick fix to accommodate – and give prominence to – a monument to Dom Mintoff.

The existing roundabout would have been retained, but it would be reduced in size. The Manwel Dimech monument – which was put there by the Labour Party – would still retain pride of place at its centre.

The government’s Mintoff monument – the one in Cospicua is another Labour Party installation – would have been placed where the flowerbed stood, with the area increasing in size to accommodate it.

At some point, however, the government decided in favour of a more extensive revamp, a €1.6 million project which pedestrianises much of the square and gives more prominence to the Auberge de Castille.

The Manwel Dimech monument is set to be relocated to an unknown location, but curiously, the artist’s impressions of the project do not appear to include a Mintoff monument.

A plinth is evident in a mini-roundabout that should be set up in front of the former Garrison Chapel, which presently houses the Malta Stock Exchange.

But the artist’s impressions show a bust, rather than a full-body statue, atop the plinth. And in any case, there could be various candidates for that spot, including the Giorgio Borg Olivier statue which stood roughly on the same spot before it was removed ahead of the start of the project.

A tale of two squares

The fact that no full development permit was sought or required for the project appears strange, but there is no indication of anything untoward.

MEPA allows the use of development notifications – as opposed to applications – for various developments perceived to be minor, to reduce the bureaucratic burden on both the applicant and the authority.

Notifications are only permissible for specified types of development. The most likely way the project would qualify is as an “embellishment or enhancement of roundabouts, traffic islands or centre strips.”

Of course, whether it was appropriate for such a project, in a prominent area of Malta’s capital city, to be waved through with a notification is arguable.

This meant that MEPA’s own Heritage Advisory Committee was not consulted; objections could not be registered, and ensured that work started before anyone could reasonably make any suggestions.

The use of a notification also contrasts with another similar project, which largely pedestrianised another prominent Valletta square: St George Square in front of the Palace.

What had been serving as an unsightly car park was embellished and pedestrianised in a project that was concluded in 2009.

In that case, a full development permit had been deemed necessary, and the plans were exhaustively scrutinised by the HAC’s cultural panel over a period of more than one year.

The HAC’s minutes show that its suggestions have actually led to a modification of the square’s design, an option that was not possible this time round, even though both projects have a significant impact on the appearance of a city that has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 

But then again, a full development permit may have been sought because the original plans involved developing an underground car park underneath the square.  This proposal was dropped in the face of heavy criticism, including its impact on Valletta’s extensive underground tunnel network.