The residents of Lapsi Street and Carmel Street in St Julian’s have really suffered over the last two years – for various reasons. The digger near the church has been excavating an enormous hole since 2013. The intense noise and vibration of this digger has been affecting us all for two years and four months now, every week day including Saturdays. The only day we can have a lie-in is on Sundays. I can tell you that having a hammer over your head all day long is not a pleasant experience and makes it very hard to focus. The building permit given to the project by Mepa is for five years and they have another six months of digging – until October.
Is it really going to be worth our while? I doubt it. After all, we already have a very convenient supermarket – Scotts – and there is Park Towers, in addition. Also, instead of building a new car park, more storeys could have been added to the existing car parks.
The constant noise and shaking is really affecting our peace of mind and well-being but there is no one we can turn to. The noise is very intense in Carmel Street, so the residents of Lapsi Street must be having a particularly hard time. I am told of one pensioner who thought it was an earthquake.
We are told that the project will be worth it because two lifts will give the residents access to the piazza as well as to the supermarket that will be of great convenience. But we already have access to the piazza and this has never been a problem. Most people have two healthy legs and a car and can quite easily reach the supermarket that already exists, on foot or by car and find parking without much hassle. I have never heard anyone complain about this, as the supermarket is in a very convenient location and there is sufficient parking. In addition, the church is within walking distance so I doubt that old people are going to use the lift to visit the bars in the piazza. One or two old people might use the lifts as a short-cut, but I am quite sure that this is not the reason the project is being built.
The last thing we need is to encourage more traffic into St Julian’s. The fact that non-residents have a hard time finding parking at weekends is perhaps a positive aspect, since it will reduce the mayhem and drinking about which people are already complaining. What we need are some construction groups and architects that actually care about the residents’ well-being and are not just out to make a quick buck with any excuse.
Architect Ray Demicoli, whose architectural firm is behind the project, insists that it will be of high architectural quality and will be landscaped through planting. The development above the car park will be terraced and will never surpass the level of Lapsi Street. “We wanted to ensure that the views of residents living behind the development will not be in affected,” he said.
The truth is that some of the residents have had to sell their homes, as who would want to live on the same level as a car park?
“I am proud of this project as it is nicely crafted and very respectful,” says Demicoli. It’s a bit early to be proud of a project which is nowhere near completion yet. The offices and supermarket are being proposed to make the car park financially viable. Sure, because if the project were not financially viable I suppose no one would have been interested in it in the first place – right?
Demicoli has held meetings with the local council and with the parish church to ensure that the project respects the needs of the local community. Was the constant noise provided for the residents for over two years now taken into consideration as one of our needs? I don’t think the local community needed more noise, since St Julian’s already has plenty of over-construction.
A set of public lifts will link the car park to the church and Lapsi Street. So instead of walking down the hill, residents will be able to take a lift down to the piazza. In considering this development, the local plan calls on Mepa to seek the development of “new community and sports facilities”. So the ‘community facilities’ in question are two lifts leading to the piazza?
Please stop trying to convince us that you had our well-being in mind when you started this project. The only thing you all have in mind is the money in your pockets. Meanwhile, we have to endure another six months of endless repetitive, annoying noise. Can’t the construction workers at least take Saturdays off to try and preserve our sanity?
Henry Jones
St Julian’s