As 2018 approaches, the year when Valletta is the European City of Culture, the capital city's local council is still unhappily located in South Street, away from most of the residents.

The issue was brought up at several points of this evening's parliamentary sittings.

Claudio Grech (PN) claimed that a contract had been signed before the election which gave the local council use of the Main Guard and the local council had even paid for the lease but then the present government had turned down the lease agreement.

The Main Guard is at present used by the Attorney General and it seems the agreement to give the Main Guard to the local council also meant that the AC office would move to the former HSBC head office in front of the Borsa.

The government side replied that there seems to have been a plan to transfer the AG office to Strait Street but the government did not agree with this.

PN MP Jason Azzopardi used up most of his speech in the debate on local councils to speak about this issue. He said the move to the HSBC offices was not made because the government is now using it to house the tourism ministry.

Minister Owen Bonnici said he is open to suggestions from the council regarding alternative sites.