St Julian’s Mayor Albert Buttigieg has told The Malta Independent that he is against any further commercialisation of the locality’s village core.

He lamented how the old part of St Julian’s, especially near the Sacred Heart School is being “eaten up” by the development of hostels and boutique hotels.

Buttigieg said that while he understands that St Julian’s is the “cosmopolitan centre” of Malta and that he has accepted that Paceville has been almost fully commercialised, he wants to see a revision of the local plans to restore an “acting balance.”

He wants the longstanding residents of St. Julian’s to be better respected and to see that Paceville does not extend to the rest of the town.

He noted how not only are several historically-constructed buildings being torn down to make way for new developments, but that long standing residents are having to face up to drunk foreign youngsters creating a ruckus and damaging their neighbourhoods.

Buttigieg told this newsroom how the local council is still awaiting the “promised” Green Wardens who would fine anyone found vandalising or discarding waste inappropriately on the spot.

He stated that the current system for giving out these fines is “ridiculous”, in that it takes around a month for a person to be summoned to court – a period of time where most foreigners would have finished their holiday and gone back to their home country.

Furthermore, he told this newsroom that he wants to see more enforcement for commercialised garbage pickups.

He noted that though commercial entities like hotels are instructed to have their own garbage pickup providers, they often try to cut corners with this and leave their garbage out for the regular garbage trucks.

Moreover, he argued that the garbage pickup times for St Julian’s are too early, seeing as the locality comprises of numerous short-lets that see many tourists not waking up earlier than 10am.

He lamented how this often results in their garbage remaining on the street for a few days until the next garbage black bag day arrives.

“We should not be afraid of enforcement,” said Buttigieg in his concluding remark.