The scene of a holy procession navigating tables and chairs is no longer the realm of surrealism. Sadly, it has become normality, as the Valletta community has been shoved to the side, and its ancient traditions barely make it to the centre of the streets, as they have now been taken over by the business community.

Let's be very clear. I am not bashing the hard work of the business community here. I believe that in a city like Valletta, we can work out an equitable solution that has all players satisfied with the balance, however this step has been totally skipped - and that is what the topic of this article is about.

Like in most other areas, this government has lost control of the situation and can now only hope for the best - an emotion clearly detectable in the defeatist statements that were made in the wake of this latest faux pas.

I have said this time and time again, and now it has become an emergency. Valletta requires a real, comprehensive, and well-studied masterplan that provides the equilibrium needed between all the players that call Valletta home.

We must first and foremost understand what it means to be a Valletta resident, and the heightened challenges associated with it. I am told that living in Valletta is increasingly becoming a task, as parking issues, extended hours of entertainment, nuisance in the streets, constant disturbances from large-scale events, not to mention the prohibitive price-tag on property, is driving people out of their homes.

We cannot just accept this as a fact of modern life. We must protect our Valletta community and come up with the solutions that will keep it alive. If the Valletta community is gone, so will be their cherished traditions, and then it will be useless trying to argue for their protection on the UNESCO list.

Then we must also understand how Valletta, being the gorgeous Capital City that it is, can be a stylish mecca for shopping, work and play. Emphasis on the word stylish here, because let's face it, we kind of let ourselves go on this one too!

Doesn't Valletta deserve to have a tasteful artistic direction to the kind of music is played in the streets for example? These might be a highly subjective topic perhaps but pumping commercial music at the top of your amplification system's might, to try to out-do your neighbouring restaurant who is doing the same, is not very stylish.

In London, buskers are highly regulated, and licences for them to play in the subway are granted following a competitive process. I am not suggesting we should go the same route, but there might be a tip or two to learn from the British, to keep our historical centres stylish.

Valletta is also a historical city, and rightly so it attracts scores of visitors each day. This makes us all very proud, as it takes first place in the list of most visited spots on the island by tourists. But once again, we must valorise Valletta further and go beyond the easy wins we have relied on for the past decades. We must look into new trends of tourism, ones that value real, and most importantly authentic experiences. This goes with the first point I have discussed in this article, as sadly, our Valletta community is severely under siege, so the real experiences are also under threat.

Should we at least try to save the last remaining artisans that used to line all the streets of Valletta? The family-run business, who used to be so passionate about selling you more than just an article of clothing or a book, but some genuine advice about what colours are in season, or what book they are sure you'd enjoy reading this week.

Ultimately its about safeguarding a real city, a real community, both residential as well as commercial. It's about finding the balance to ensure that Valletta does not become a hollow town, that shines and shimmers on the outside, but lacks a beating heart and a soul. Valletta is not a museum. It is, and must remain, a real city.

We must take care of what we have, and safeguard Valletta's world heritage, before we try to get UNESCO status for other sites, which surely deserve it, no doubt. The UNESCO status is an unprecedented opportunity to really value our heritage, physical and ephemeral, and give it the pedestal to truly shine like it has never before.

 Otherwise, it is just lip service, and we are fooling ourselves.

Julie Zahra is the Opposition's Shadow Minister for Cultural Heritage, Arts, and Culture