Crowne Plaza Hotel site

Reference is made to the article Crowne Plaza Hotel Site: Plans For 386 Flats (January 8).

With regard to statements made by Harry Vassallo, chairman of Alternattiva Demokratika, the Ministry for Justice and Home Affairs, the Ministry for Rural Affairs and the Environment and the Ministry of Finance would like to correct certain statements made.

It is incorrect to claim there was no public consultation, or that residents were not given the opportunity to comment. It is even more ironic that AD complains about lack of consultation on the project when AD itself availed itself of the opportunity to make a submission during public consultation on the draft development brief.

A development brief was prepared by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority for the site which is on government land and is already developed. As is the case for all development briefs, this was subject to public consultation which was held over a period of six weeks. A tender was issued by the Lands Department and this was based on the development brief which was approved in January 2006.

It is worth restating some aspects of the development brief which will benefit the Sliema community, and which AD conveniently fails to mention. This includes a substantial proportion of the whole site from which public access is presently restricted, and which is now planned to be left open, and that about 5,000 square metres of open space is specifically earmarked for public enjoyment. Around two-thirds of the site will not be accommodating additional built development and development is being directed towards the environs of the existing hotel which was developed in the early 1980s.

Moreover, the development brief does not allow any development in front of and to the side of Fort Cambridge, to enhance its context. The space between the fort and the promenade will also be open to the public, which is another important addition for the enjoyment of the promenade.

As for any development application, persons will have another opportunity to submit their comments during the processing of the development application by Mepa. The developers will be requested to submit a detailed Project Description Statement which will determine whether an Environment Planning Statement is required. So it is absolutely misleading to give the impression that the public hardly has an opportunity to give its feedback when the public would eventually have had two opportunities to submit comments on the proposed development on this site - during the preparation of the development brief and during the processing of the application.

In line with regulations, the developer will also be required to prepare a traffic impact statement for the proposed development. The TIS will consider the likely impacts of the development on traffic and what integrated measures will need to be taken to mitigate these impacts. It is to be pointed out that it was Government itself which insisted on a link road across the Tigne peninsula to ease some of the traffic pressures within the residential areas of Tigné and Qui-si-Sana.

It is therefore blatantly misleading to claim that public consultation is being devalued and foiled.