The partial pedestrianisation of the Mosta square is being reconsidered after the local council received a string of complaints from residents and businesses in the area, the new mayor has confirmed.
The council will meet on Tuesday to take a temporary decision about whether or not to continue with the partial pedestrianisation of the square – which is currently closed to traffic on Saturday evenings and Sundays.
A final decision will be taken following consultation with residents and businesses that will start in October, mayor Joseph Gatt said.
“The council is here to take decisions in the best interest of the locality and this might mean changing previous decisions. We will first listen to what the residents and businesses in all of Mosta’s zones have to say,” Gatt said when contacted.
The issue was flagged in a Facebook post by Valletta Cultural Agency chair Jason Micallef who criticised the local council’s decision to backtrack on the partial predestination that started earlier this year.
"Goodbye to cleaner air in Mosta square. Goodbye to a stop to the traffic madness that passes needlessly through the Mosta square on the weekend," he wrote.
The local council had informed residents about Tuesday's meeting in a post on Facebook earlier this month.
Residents have mixed views
The square started being closed off on weekends earlier this year. The residents’ comments showed mixed views about whether or not the square should remain pedestrianised.
Some are in favour, with one resident writing: “Keep it closed. People get a chance to roam the square without the fumes and noise of traffic.”
Another noted "children were playing with no fear of cars. It was an awesome sight”.
One resident warned: “if you go back to opening up the square to traffic, you'd be taking a step backwards as a council, and repeating the same mistake the government did - not prioritising open spaces and not factoring in the environment”.
But others want the square back to how it was because they believe its closure is increasing traffic.
One man said: “[You are] closing 20 metres and making people drive round Mosta for 20 minutes”.
Another person believes the square “needs to remain open as it is causing too much traffic with it closed".
He suggested it would be better to close it when activities are going on.
The pedestrianisation forms part of the Slow Streets project that seeks to regularly close some of Malta's streets to vehicles with traffic being rerouted.
Mosta is one of more than 40 localities to sign up for the project, which is a collaboration between the transport and local government ministries, Transport Malta and the local councils’ association.
Architect Antoine Zammit, who designed the square together with his team at Studjurban, had told Times of Malta that with improved infrastructure around the periphery of Mosta, most traffic can be kept away from the square without causing congestion or inconveniences to residents while returning the area in front of the iconic Rotunda to the people.