When, last week, a bipartisan parliamentary committee unanimously agreed to allow extensive areas of Fort Chambray to be transferred to new investors, it was no coincidence that, the day before the sitting, the government gazette published that development permission application PA 02454/16 was received to dismantle and relocate the façade of the British Barracks at Fort Chambray.
It should come as no surprise that, in the long list of development applications made on sites all over Malta and Gozo and published in this government gazette, this was the only application with a 2016 date reference. All the other application numbers, except for one in 2023, were referenced with a 2024 date.
When an earlier development permission application (PA 3884/23) for works at Fort Chambray was validated by the Planning Authority back in April 2024, the following proposal description was given. It is a rather long and tedious description but is being reluctantly reproduced here because it includes a clause that is misleading, which is italicised. It also gives an indication of the scale of the proposed development within the fort.
“Fort Chambray Phase 3 development comprising a Class 3B 5-star aparthotel with 64 ensuite rooms, 50 serviced apartments and ancillary amenities; 105 high quality Class 1 residential units with highly landscaped pedestrian environment and creation of a new public piazza; internal alterations and part demolition of the existing underground parking levels including excavations to extend further the existing two car parking levels to accommodate car parking garages for private use and car parking spaces for public use; construction of 2 substations and 2 water reservoirs; demolition of the existing vacant British Barracks and dismantling of the front masonry screen and flanks as per PA/02454/16 which are proposed to be relocated and integrated within the proposed hotel main building; internal and external alterations to the existing Dar it-Tabib and change its use into 10 hotel ensuite rooms with ancillary outdoor amenities; the introduction of ancillary hotel amenities within the existing Knights’ Barracks comprising hotel retail outlets and hotel restaurants at ground floor level and hotel meeting rooms and conference facilities at first floor level including a lightweight structure link with the main hotel building; and the rehabilitation of the existing Naval Bakery and Polverista, including restoration and reinstatement works approved as per PA/00841/15 and their complementary uses to the proposed aparthotel, respectively comprising a clubhouse and a hotel snack bar outlet together with ancillary outdoor catering areas and newly landscaped external areas, including rehabilitation of the fort’s ditch into a landscaped recreational outdoor space.”
As per PA 02454/16? When this application (PA 3884/23) was made public, Din l-Art Ħelwa objected and noted that the proposal description for this application makes reference to a previous development permission application PA 2454/16 as if it was already an approved development.
The PA has admitted to the validation of an application for development permission based on another application that nobody really knew about- Patrick Calleja
However, this application never went beyond the screening process, was not even validated, and, therefore, could have had no bearing or influence on the determination of the application PA 3884/23. This misleading and inaccurate description was immediately pointed out to the Planning Authority. The public application file for PA 2454/16 had not been revisited by the Planning Authority since 2016, with the last insertions from the architects made in 2013.
When, last week, the Planning Authority published the most recent list of development permission applications it included PA 2454/16 with a validation date of June 26, 2024! The reception date for this application as determined by the Planning Authority and recorded in the public file is February 19, 2013, over 11 years ago!
Clearly, this is no coincidence and can only be interpreted as yet another deliberate and disreputable attempt to whitewash and facilitate this particular application process. There could be other, as yet undisclosed, motives for this modus operandi. What in effect the Planning Authority has admitted to is the validation of an application for development permission (PA 3884/23) based on another application that nobody really knew about because it had never been validated or published in the government gazette.
Fort Chambray is a Grade 1 scheduled site but, despite this fact and its obvious historical and cultural importance, the proposal as described in application PA 3884/23 has treated the fort as an infill building site. The British Barracks were excluded from the original scheduling.
The proposed plans portray a massive and excessive overdevelopment of the area with the heights of some buildings being five storeys high. The fort will be engulfed by the excessive development proposed within it, practically obliterating its historic and visual context.
The drawings refer to the “British Barracks screen” and indicate a proposal to dismantle this “screen” and demolish the rest of the barracks. First of all, this so-called “screen” is the south facing, bold and graceful portico that forms an intrinsic and important architectural and functional element of the barracks. The portico provided a shaded and well ventilated passage to the building.
The proposal to detach this portico from the main building as if it was some accretion to it is misleading and insensitive. The proposal to demolish the rest of the barracks and describe it as “derelict” is also misleading when it could and should be restored as the only British Barracks in Gozo.
The Temple of Abu Simbel was relocated baecause it was under threat from flooding. Providing better views for a new development is certainly not a valid excuse to relocate or, perish the thought, demolish the British Barracks.
In April 2024, three Gozitan NGOs, including Din l-Art Ħelwa Għawdex, requested the long overdue scheduling of the British Barracks at Fort Chambray.
Patrick Calleja is executive president of Din l-Art Ħelwa.