Works on the Barracuda restaurant in Balluta bay started over the New Year’s weekend, despite the application for the project being currently ‘suspended at the request of the architect.’
Photos and video taken on site show that workers have already dismantled the wooded balconies on the building that houses the Barracuda and Piccolo Padre restaurant.
The building is scheduled as Grade 2. The Planning Authority later said that it has issued a stop and enforcement notice with a daily penalty.
The application is for change of use from Class 4A offices to Class 4D, internal alterations and alterations to the façade. The applicant is Carlo Stivala, while Robert Musumeci is the architect. The application was filed last year.
In its initial comments, the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage had expressed concern with the extensive demolition of internal walls within a scheduled property. “The proposed interventions would constitute an extensive loss of original fabric and would completely redefine the internal spaces, and their legibility, within the property,” it had said.
In a Facebook post, St Julian’s mayor Albert Buttigieg said the works started while people were on holidays and the establishments were closed. The owner, Carlo Stivala, removed the wooden balconies and windows, he said. This had taken place in the absence of Planning Authority permits.
There is one simple question, Buttigieg said: “Is the law for everyone or is it optional for some?”
In a statement, the Planning Authority said that it has issued a stop and enforcement notice with a daily penalty for development works that started at the site of the former Barracuda Restaurant.
On the site of the property, there is a proposed development application (PA3863/21) which is currently suspended at the request of the applicant.
In 1994, the Planning Authority had given this property and several other properties in the area of Balluta special protection status as Grade 2 protected buildings.
The Authority’s Compliance and Enforcement Directorate will monitor the site to ensure that no further works are carried out without planning permission, the PA said.