Floriana local council has called for a revision of an agreement signed with the government in May on the protection of the Granaries.

James Aaron Ellul, vice-mayor and PN councillor, said that the majority of the newly-elected council agreed that the memorandum of understanding must be revisited.  

“According to the MOU, government entities are responsible for the upkeep of the Granaries only when mass events are organised exclusively on site.  When events are organised at different locations including the Granaries, then the government is not held responsible for its maintenance and cleaning”, Ellul said.  

“This has to change.”

He said that the Memorandum of Understanding was presented as a fait accompli during one of the final council meetings in the previous legislature just before the council elections.

Former Labour mayor Vincent Borg had presented councillors with a draft  and even though the Nationalist council members were unhappy about it,  the agreement was signed behind their back, he said. 

“No vote was ever taken on such an important matter,” he added.

The granaries are underground bell-shaped silos opposite Floriana church.  Their roof forms Malta's largest square.

The Granaries are a Grade 1 Scheduled Monument  and they are considered as an area of high landscape value. 

Elderly residents in Floriana often complain of the inconvenience which events there cause.   

The May agreement provided for the upkeep of "il-Fosos tal-Furjana" by the Restoration and Preservation Department.It was hailed by Culture Minister Owen Bonnici as a mechanism to ensure the site could continue to be enjoyed and protected.

But council members want a better definition of “public events”.

 “Protection of the Granaries is paramount, with or without the MOU”, Ellul said.