'Are they serious?': Residents furious after council approves road closure

Updated 1.56pm

Mellieħa residents are outraged at the local council’s decision to grant a road closure permit on their street, arguing the approval will leave hundreds without vehicular access for most of the day.

The council, on Saturday, approved an application to close part of Triq It-Tunnaġġ between 7am and 4pm today – a window that was later revised to start three hours later – to make way for the installation of a small crane.

The decision attracted criticism from residents, however, who argued that, with their only other access road blocked by “illegal” construction waste, closing the street will effectively block vehicular access to their apartments.

The Mellieħa mayor said that while he sympathised with residents, the council needed to balance the interests of both parties, while appealing for understanding.

The mayor later on Tuesday told Times of Malta that the road had been cleared and fully reopened by 1.45pm. 

One resident told Times of Malta ahead of the closure that “a lot” of people in the area were annoyed with the decision, explaining that, with Triq It-Tunnaġġ home to large apartment blocks, the closure would block access to over 100 apartments and some 80 garages.

“What the hell? Are they [the council] serious? How can it be legal to block a road for hundreds of people?”

The crane is being installed to move large numbers of tiles to the upper floors of nearby Seabreeze Court on the same road, where development works are underway. Residents said the permit had been lodged by a real estate agent.

'Lack of decency'

Questioning the council’s handling of the situation, the resident, who asked not to be named, said the council “could at least have had the decency to visit the site” and explore other options. The time window of the permit had only been revised following community pushback, the resident noted.

Turning to the role of the applicant, he said he “didn’t even have the decency to print more notices around the area”, with only one visible in the street.

The resident warned that allowing today’s permit risked setting a precedent, possibly leading to repeated lack of access for those in the area.

A map provided by residents showing homes affected by the closure.

He suggested relocating the crane to the side of the street or a nearby field – which, he said, had been used by cranes when Seabreeze Courts was being constructed – or shortening the permit window to two hours.

While acknowledging the applicant’s rights to request crane access, the resident said the real estate agent believed to be behind the project, and who had informed residents of the closure in a closed Facebook group, was “making a quick buck at our expense”.

'I'm not favouring the applicant'

The mayor, Gabriel Micallef, told Times of Malta that, though he understood the residents’ concerns, he had to balance those with the needs of the applicant. “We’re in a difficult position,” he said, stressing that the council had “always made an effort” to accommodate the needs of residents.

Noting the decision to move the permit window three hours later and finish an hour earlier, he said the 7am start would have been “too much”.

He added the applicant had been instructed to remove the crane from the street if required to allow emergency access, while noting that standard closures stretched from 7am until 5pm.

“Illegal” construction waste blocks the only other access for residents.

Micallef noted it was “not the first time we’ve granted a permit for this road”, adding he had written to residents informing them of today’s permit. “I’m not favouring the applicant... it’s not my fault there’s construction going on.”

The mayor stressed the crane’s installation had only become an issue due to Triq id-Denċi– the only other access road for residents – being blocked “as the PA failed to deal with illegal construction waste” left at the site.

Photos of the road show large mounds of excavation waste, which Micallef said should have been removed, piled up close to a boundary wall.

Responding to the residents’ suggestions, the mayor said he would “check and see what we [the council] can do”, while pushing the applicant for a more precise timeframe.

Micallef appealed for cooperation from both the residents and the developer while works are underway.