Court orders EPRT to reassess Sliema Townsquare project expansion

Updated 4.55pm with objector's comments

Sliema residents on Wednesday won a partial victory against mega developer Michael Stivala, with a court ordering a planning tribunal to reassess his Townsquare project expansion plans.

Residents took legal action after the Planning Authority and its appeals tribunal granted Stivala permission to add a 10-floor hotel, restaurants and more apartments to the 28-floor tower already approved for the site.

In three separate judgments passed on Wednesday morning, the court of appeal ruled that the developer must not build a hotel in the middle of a public open space at the site, is precluded from adding restaurants to areas of the site that are zoned residential, and must ensure apartments at the site are at least 150 square metres large. 

The court however dismissed objections about plans to build a tunnel to the Townsquare site and found no reason to question the assessment of the project's Environmental Impact Assessment. 

Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti sent the case back to the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal for reassessment.

The Townsquare project has been mired in controversy and legal wrangles for almost a decade. The consortium which originally owned the project – a joint venture between the Ganado, Gasan, Soler and Trapani-Galea families - obtained Planning Authority approval in 2016 to build a 38-floor tower at the site.

Residents immediately objected and two years later the planning tribunal upheld an appeal filed by NGOs and sent the plans back to the PA.

Developers then downscaled the project to incorporate a 28-storey tower and in 2019 the PA gave the project the green light.

Two years later, the Townsquare consortium sold the project to Stivala’s ST Group. Stivala subsequently sought to expand the project, arguing that building volumes would remain largely unchanged and that 64 per cent of the site would be open space.

The expansion would have seen the number of apartments rise from 159 to 234, parking spaces increase by more than 200, a new 90-room hotel added and increased offices, shops and restaurants on the site. 

Planners approved Stivala's proposal unanimously in 2023 but residents and NGOs objected. Last February, the EPRT confirmed the Planning Board decision. Objectors then took the matter to court.

The court appeal was filed by various residents and backed by Moviment Graffitti and Din l-Art Ħelwa. They were assisted by lawyers Edward DeBono, Andrea Vella and Claire Bonello.

Charles Falzon, one of the appellants in the case who acted for the Sliema Residents' Association welcomed the ruling, which he said would "result in less traffic, less noise and an overall better quality of life for the residents."

Falzon urged people to attend a public protest against proposed planning reform bills 143 and 144, scheduled for 5.30pm in Valletta on Monday, October 27. If enacted into law, he said, the Planning Authority would be able to deviate from its policies to allow such developments to go ahead.