Valletta’s Strait Street and the former civil abattoir are earmarked to be transformed into creative and multicultural hubs under a new planning policy.

The new policy, drawn up after an eight-week public consultation process, will encourage and facilitate the rehabilitation and revitalisation of the two areas in line with the government’s vision for Valletta 2018, according to the planning authority.

The policy supersedes those listed in the 2002 Grand Harbour Local Plan and specifies a diverse range of uses and activities for “the promotion, teaching and practice of culture and local crafts” for properties with frontages on Strait Street and the old civil abattoir.

The area is divided into the core and the periphery. The core area is between Santa Lucia Street and St Christopher Street and will accommodate high intensity uses and street activities such as bars.

Teaching studios, shops and exhibition spaces and accommodation will be possible on the second storey of buildings in the core and periphery. Artists’ studio flats and offices will also be favourably considered on the periphery. The planning authority said it could also “favourably consider the range of high intensity uses allowed in the core of Strait Street to extend to the area between St Christopher and St Dominic” streets only where “a single comprehensive proposal covers a significant proportion of the properties with a frontage on Strait Street”.

Specific attention will be given to the restoration and integration in the design schemes of signs, mural inscriptions or painted adverts linked to the street’s history.

The policy also includes design guidelines for street furniture on Strait Street and promotes the full pedestrianisation of the core of the hub area.

It encourages high quality outdoor seating and standing areas for restaurants and cafes to enhance the “safety, amenity and ambience of Strait Street”.

The same policy framework will be applied to the old abattoir, one of Valletta’s earliest buildings. The socio-economic mix in the area made the building ideal for a “hub of activity bridging commercial, industrial and residential uses”, the planning authority said.

The new policy document, a map and the public submissions are available on the planning authority’s website.