St Julian’s residents, backed by Alternattiva Demokratika and Flimkien Ghal Ambjent Ahjar have managed to convince the local council to scrap plans for an underground car park in Balluta.
Residents of the locality complained about the proposed car park raising some valid arguments – first and foremost the fact that no one was consulted on the proposed development.
Other issues which residents raised were the fact that the construction of a car park would attract more cars to the area and that the square, over 100 years old, would lose its natural character.
This square, they say, is one of the last open spaces available to the people of St Julian’s as green space after green space had been eradicated to make way for commercial development.
The FAA also made reference to the fact that Balluta buildings, one of Malta’s most beautiful architectural landmarks, was a scheduled Grade A monument.
In short, they are right. St Julian’s council, on the other hand, is looking for a solution to solve the traffic congestion problem as well as the parking problem in the locality. This, in itself is positive, but local councils need to learn the lesson – never go ahead and propose something for a locality without first having properly consulted residents, it will come back to bite you.
While this newspaper is not against sustainable infrastructural development, it believes that in this day and age when the foremost concern is our environment, more thought should go into such projects.
While the cause was noble, the St Julian’s project studies have proved to be no more than a waste of taxpayers’ money. With more dialogue, perhaps a more satisfactory solution would have been found.
And now back to the square. During the fallout, it was mentioned that Balluta derives its name from the oak tree (ballut). Many of these used to exist in the square in the past but they have been uprooted, damaged or chopped down.
The square should, first and foremost be redesigned and should make better utilisation of the open space. While this would be of benefit to residents, it will also benefit our tourism product as one could have two lovely bays – Balluta and Spinola – linked by a promenade.
As we have mentioned, the square should be redesigned and where possible oak trees or saplings should be replanted to give some air back to the residents.
In addition, as mentioned already, Balluta Bay is one of the most picturesque bays on the island and we really should do more to embellish it. Trees, an open square with eating establishments and a seating area really should do it. It is not rocket science and we are not reinventing the wheel. The square, while in disrepair, really does not need much to bring it up to scratch.
Sometimes, the more simple the design, the more successful it is. We have had our fair share of wild and new-fangled designs which, to our distaste, we have discovered to not be in consonance with our architectural heritage. So no, no more of that please. All Balluta needs is the rebuilding of the open space and some tender loving care by the Environment and Landscaping Consortium (which deserves a lot of praise). It pretty much is a case of “if it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it”.