The 19th century British Barracks at Fort Chambray is destined to be butchered before it is even scheduled as a historic building. 2024 will not be easy to forget: the year that the Planning Authority reached unprecedented depths and failed miserably in its mission “to make Malta and Gozo a better and more desirable place to live in and to act on behalf of the community to provide a balanced and sustainable environment”. Their mission statement would be comical if it was not so sad.
When the name of an authority is coined with the word ‘planning’ one should be forgiven for assuming that this authority will be forward-looking; that is the basis of planning, to think ahead proactively.
The responsibility for scheduling lies with the Planning Authority (PA) and the whole point of scheduling is to ensure that the historic and cultural value of a building or monument is respected and understood by decision-makers before any development applications are made and determined. Without this prior knowledge and comprehensive understanding of a site’s historical significance and context, the planning process is completely undermined.
When the scheduling of the 18th-century Fort Chambray in Gozo was carried out in 2005, the fort was recognised as a Grade 1 monument. The 19th-century British barracks within the fort was excluded from this exercise with a note declaring that “the scheduling will be considered following the outcome of current pending applications” for development. It should not take too much effort to identify the irrationality of this declaration.
Now that the development permission for the demolition of most of the British barracks and the relocation of its façade and flanks has been granted, it is unpardonable and deplorable to think that the scheduling of the British barracks will be done retroactively to accommodate the approved plans.
This same irrational process was applied to the Villa St Ignatius in St Julian’s. A request to schedule this 19th-century historic villa was made in 2017 but the scheduling was only finalised two weeks ago, six months after development planning permission was granted! Similarly, a request to schedule the British Barracks was made last April but was refused by the Planning Authority.
A similar absurdity occurred last October when the scheming authority announced the partial review for the Villa Rosa local plan in St George’s Bay. It was reported that the objectives outlined in the partial review were a cut and paste version of a six-point plan drafted by the developers and that was presented earlier to the cabinet. The developers had unashamedly presented a project that totally ignored the current and approved local plan for the area; the scheming authority had evidently launched a review to retroactively accommodate the proposed development.
The list of debacles is, sadly, long. Numerous ill-conceived projects end up with the authority’s approval despite objections from various quarters. Some applications, unfortunately, go unnoticed and others end up actually cast in stone even before the Court of Appeal revokes their development permission: clearly an unacceptable state of affairs in any democratic state.
Fort Chambray was designed to protect Gozo from a foreign invasion not a local one- Patrick Calleja
There were numerous cases in 2024 where the Court of Appeal annulled permits for buildings or structures that had already been constructed and these continue to exist with impunity from the law. It took a further flurry of protests and objections from NGOs and some civic-minded individuals before the Prime Minister Robert Abela first publicly announced that the laws governing this absurdity would be amended, during a mass meeting on May 1, 2023. Yes 2023. We are still waiting.
The recent planning approvals for the conversion of Fort Chambray into a massive development zone and the demolition of most of its British barracks and the relocation of its façade and flanks have instigated an extraordinary chorus of disapprovals from the public, academics, art and history students and, of course, numerous NGOs.
A coalition of these entities will be appealing the PA decisions through the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal (EPRT). The appeal will certainly include a request to suspend the permissions until the appeal procedures are exhausted. But will this request be upheld?
The British barracks still has to be scheduled despite the outstanding iconic view of the building from the sea, its commanding context within the fort, its historical significance and our collective identity and memory.
Should the project go ahead, the barracks will never again be seen from the sea. The building is to be mostly demolished, and the façade is to be dismantled, lowered and relegated to the rear of the site. You may, however, eventually see the three storeys of nondescript apartments that will be built on top of the new building with the reconstructed barracks façade. Fort Chambray was designed to protect Gozo from a foreign invasion not a local one.
Will the EPRT really allow the demolition and dismantling of the British barracks to commence before the appeal process is exhausted? Is this the plan for Fort Chambray and the British barracks? Prime minister, the planning appeals laws need amending now.
Patrick Calleja is executive president of Din l-Art Ħelwa.