Sliema residents on Saturday gathered in support of Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar and the Sliema Local Council in denouncing what the organisation described as “the Planning Authority’s connivance with developers to ruin Sliema” and the rest of Malta and Gozo.
Astrid Vella, Coordinator of Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar outlined how an application to build a 9-storey hotel in Milner Street was recommended for refusal by the Planning Authority’s Case Officer, since “the proposed hotel is not one of the allowable uses within residential areas and is therefore counter to North Harbours Local Plan which limits uses to those compatible with residential areas.”
The Case Officer also highlighted the fact that the application exceeds the extra floors permitted to hotels and will create a prohibited blank party wall. Still the Planning Authority Commission intends to approve it, in spite of the fact that just a few weeks ago, the Planning Tribunal revoked a hotel permit since it would cause ‘bad neighbourliness”: noise, traffic and congestion. The PA Commission also dismissed Transport Malta’s very rare objection re lack of garage space and the lack of street parking bays, cavalierly claiming that the congestion created by tourist buses and delivery vans would not impact residents.
Vella related this official abuse to the number of irregular permits that have been issued recently, including the Fortina/Captain Morgan pontoon in Balluta and all the outrageous permits that are destroying Gozitan villages and landscapes. She said that this should not be blamed on Planning Authority employees but on those in charge, accusing the authorities of duping the people, “A stench of corruption hangs over the PA”.
Paul Radmilli, Sliema Local Councillor insisted that lobbying needs to be eliminated, as the processing of applications has been corrupted by opaque, behind-the-scenes dealings and by developers picking the fragments of policy that suit them, without the PA assessing the whole context. He explained how the different planning policies – Local Plans, the Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development and Design Guidance were rendered toothless by the ‘Flexibility Policy’ that allows PA board members to overrule policies at whim.
“This Milner Street case is symptomatic of all that is wrong with the Planning Authority – if they get it wrong in Sliema, they get it wrong everywhere. The interpretation of that policy will be used all over the island,” Radmilli concluded.
The FAA team concluded by raising the point that high buildings in narrow streets trap traffic emissions which contribute to asthma, heart conditions, strokes, cancer and dementia, “ however politicians don’t care about residents’ health and quality of life”. The Environment Minister’s reply is “You can always appeal”. But why should NGOs and Local Councils have to deplete the public’s funds for appeals, depriving residents of basic services that they have a right to, because of others’ greed?