A group of Sliema apartment owners have won a battle to stop a closed café from being converted into a bar outside their block, hailing the Court of Appeal decision as “good news for the rule of law”.
The permit, PA/422/20, which proposed alterations and the addition of signage to the façade, was revoked last week, when Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti ruled in favour of the Navarino Court Owners Association.
The proposed bar had been approved by the Planning Authority and the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal last October but the owners refused to throw in the towel and appealed the decision in court.
The plans involved the construction of a fixed wooden platform in the narrow alley for outdoor chairs and tables, which the residents argued would have hindered pedestrian passage.
Among the objections was the bar’s location just below living rooms and bedrooms of residential apartments
They also held that the platform, which was given the green light by the tribunal, had never been approved by the Planning Authority. In fact, permits for the site had stipulated there was to be “no change of terrain”.
The court agreed that there was no such permission and revoked the permit for the bar.
The owners, many elderly, of Navarino Court flats on Trejqet Luzju and Stella Maris Street, “stood up to be counted on issues essential to safeguarding their rights against institutionalised infringements of rules and regulations that should protect citizens,” association secretary Charles Falzon said.
Among the other objections was the bar’s location just below living rooms and bedrooms of residential apartments.
The coffee shop, originally Chat ’n’ Chew, has been closed for about five years but having a bar instead would have been a nuisance to residents, they argued.
Residents, some over 85, would have been unable to keep windows open due to the noise and smells of food and cigarettes.
“Protecting citizens’ rights is of utmost importance since institutions like the PA, in particular, take the side of developers over the very citizens they are meant to protect,” Falzon said.
“Unless people complain and seek their rights with the courts, unfortunately, they will be trampled upon for the greed of developers,” he added.
Falzon acknowledged that, while many have given up, more and more were realising that unless they protested they would get nowhere.
Strength in numbers was paramount in such challenging situations, he said, urging people to group together without fear or favour if they wanted to succeed in safeguarding their rights.
The Sliema local council, a registered objector, joined forces with the Navarino flats owners, sharing legal costs.
The association expressed its gratitude to those who contributed to their success, in particular legal representative Claire Bonello.