Access to public spaces is crucial for the quality of life of many, especially those who live in small apartments. This was especially evident during the pandemic when urban planning policymakers and commercial property owners grappled with how to provide people with safe spaces for social interaction.
During the height of the pandemic, pavements and curbside parking spaces were rapidly transformed for use as outdoor dining by restaurants and bars.
In most cases, government officials hastily approved these catering establishments with minimal community engagement, raising several issues around equity and access. Many understandably fear that the government is effectively privatising part of the public-right-of-way by transferring the right to use curbside space to a paying public.
What was meant to be a temporary measure to help businesses recover from the economic impact of the pandemic and the related public health restrictions has become a long-term policy frustrating many ordinary citizens who see their quality of life increasingly threatened.
Lands Minister Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi informed parliament that 68 bars, restaurants, and other catering establishments have a permit to put tables and chairs on public land in Sliema and Gżira. Residents across Valletta, Sliema, Marsascala, Buġibba, and other towns and villages in Malta and Gozo are beginning to show their dissent to the increasing limitation of their right to access free public spaces safely.
The government is signalling that it prioritises outdoor dining in public street spaces and the economic recovery of dining establishments over the right of ordinary people to enjoy public spaces safely. Put simply, this is the privatisation of public spaces by stealth.
The ongoing tensions over the shifting uses of public spaces and streets must be addressed fairly and equitably. While the pressures of the pandemic have waned, permitting catering establishments to use outdoor public spaces has continued with apparently little focus on enforcing reasonable regulations to safeguard the proper health and safety of the public.
Temporary fixtures like tables, seating, umbrellas, heating lamps, planters, platforms or flooring, and physical barriers to the seating area also present potential safety risks for pedestrians. Moreover, in towns like Sliema and Gżira, many outdoor seating catering establishments are very close to roads with heavy traffic flow. A bad traffic accident on such roads could have tragic consequences for diners seated on the pavement.
Outdoor catering establishments must also respect the public’s right-of-way on pavements. People with mobility disabilities have a right to sufficient clearance on pavements to allow safe access and egress in spaces occupied by outdoor catering facilities.
Why should pedestrians be treated to loud music coming from speakers placed outside establishments for their outdoor diners? Our infatuation with noise is now becoming unbearable.
The lands minister must inform the public of the frequency and effectiveness of periodic safety inspections on catering establishments that encroach on public land. He must also update the public on whether any establishment has been sanctioned for breaking the law. Have any restrictions been imposed by the Lands Authority on the hours of operation of catering establishments encroaching public spaces?
These issues are especially pressing given the interest in developing more permanent pavement outdoor dining programmes in our towns.
Ordinary citizens have the right to ask whether the benefits of the public space encroachment policy are primarily going to catering establishments rather than the public.
Privatising public spaces by stealth is undoubtedly not in the public interest.