Mepa defends decision to deschedule building

The Malta Environment and Planning Authority has chided Alternattiva Demokratika for deploring the descheduling of a grade 3 property in Balluta Bay, St Julians.

It accused AD spokesman Mark Causon of having criticised its decision without having attended the public hearing a week ago.

At the hearing last Thursday, the Mepa board decided to forward a proposal to the minister responsible so that an old building at 7, Triq ir-Rampa, adjacent to Villa Cassar Torreggiani, would be descheduled and a new building erected instead.

Mepa public relations officer Sylvana Debono pointed out that none of AD's representatives was present for the public hearing, where they could have freely voiced their objection to the board decision.

Contacted, Ms Debono said the only objection had come from a representative of the developers of the hotel that is being built behind the building in question. The objection concerned the proposed elevation of the building and had nothing to do with the descheduling of the structure that is to be pulled down. The hotel developers' representative, in fact, objected to the fact that a high building would obstruct the view of the hotel.

AD had described the decision as an unexpected blow to historical buildings in Balluta but Ms Debono insisted that "it was a decision taken in public and in all transparency and, more importantly, respecting the rules. It was certainly not a mere rubber stamping exercise".

Mepa said the building in question is well away from Balluta church and its environs, which are grade 2 buildings. Moreover, the structure plan allows for the descheduling of grade 3 buildings as long as high standard buildings compatible with the surrounding urban environment replace them.

The original plans submitted by developers had not been accepted because the proposed building would have been too high and therefore would not have blended in with the surrounding buildings, the Mepa spokesman said.

Ms Debono said it is the development of the hotel that has helped to change the urban characteristic of the area and it was unfair for the AD spokesman to say that the descheduling of a building has ruined the character of the bay.

According to Mepa, the new building should respect the directives of the Heritage Advisory Committee, which specify that a building erected in place of a descheduled structure should follow the urban characteristic of the area.

In this case, developers will be bound to fit the building with wooden windows and wrought iron balconies, Mepa said.