This is the second of two articles about a wave of five-storey blocks that are changing Gozo’s character and causing disquiet. Read the first article, about a challenge in the constitutional court.
Several Gozitan mayors have expressed disquiet over five-storey blocks of flats that have been sprouting up all over Gozo in the last few years.
“We cannot have all of Gozo be like Marsalforn and Xlendi,” said San Lawrenz mayor Noel Formosa, one of several who spoke to Times of Malta.
He drew attention to the five-storey block of 15 flats over which a San Lawrenz resident has instituted a constitutional court case.
This “high rise”, he said, does not respect the existing height or architecture and “is going to change the character of that particular street”.
The block in shell form, of property developers Joseph Portelli and Mark Agius, lies only 50 metres away from the church and has become a sore point among residents in the small village.
It is evidence that even quaint village centres are no longer safe from incongruous, forbidding apartment blocks.
The kind of permits issued by the PA, said Formosa, were creating “shabby flats that are not family-oriented but once again to make easy money which in my opinion is not sustainable”.
“We have to respect the rural villages that have maintained their character,” he said, adding that he was not against family-oriented buildings in the deve-lopment zone.
In Qala, another small village on the other side of Gozo, mayor Paul Buttigieg shared a list of flats belonging to property developers that have been granted a permit or are awaiting a decision.
The tally amounts to 360 units, mostly flats. The list excludes smaller-scale apartment developments by families or locals.
The number has to be measured in proportion to Qala’s size – a village of around 2,500 inhabitants. It means that within a handful of years, developers would have erected one new flat for every seven inhabitants.
Mr Buttigieg decried the visual impact of such blocks on Gozitan streetscapes, likening them to “pigeon coops”.
The proliferation of these five-storey blocks in Gozo has been facilitated by a change in policy in which the previous maximum limit of floors has been superseded by a measurable maximum building height.
These blocks will make parts of Gozo’s villages feel like ghost towns of flats that are vacant for most of the time
This has allowed developers to stack in five storeys instead of four as before.
According to real estate agents, nine in 10 of these flats are being snapped up by Malta residents to serve as intermittent weekend pads. This group of buyers has expanded in the past year or so due to Brexit.
One seasoned estate agent said Britons used to predominantly seek houses but a shift in preference has further drawn developers’ efforts to building flats.
And although sales are currently in hiatus due to the coronavirus, the feeling in the building industry is that the prime minister’s pronouncement that it will lead the post-shutdown economic recovery is setting the stage for a resurgence of sales. Construction in Gozo has continued apace despite the shutdown.
The change in policy has mostly benefitted speculators, Buttigieg said.
“These blocks will make parts of Gozo’s villages feel like ghost towns of flats that are vacant for most of the time.”
The message from Christian Zammit, the mayor of Xagħra, was “loud and clear”: planning policies have to take into account Gozitan towns’ distinct characteristics and strive to preserve what makes Gozo “gorgeous”.
“I have no qualms about Maltese and foreigners investing in holiday homes if such properties are constructed in a manner which enhances a picturesque neighbourhood, rather than disrupt the aesthetic value of it, or worse, completely ruin it,” he said.
The mayor of Għajnsielem, Kevin Cauchi, acknowledged the building industry’s economic contribution.
But in the end, he said, “it is a matter of finding the right balance between a good building industry which is good for the economy and the protection of Gozo from being overbuilt and being turned into another extension of Malta”.
The president of Gozo’s Regional Council, Samuel Azzo-pardi, stressed the need to develop policy organically from within Gozo rather than “adopting whatever is adopted in Malta and tweaked a little bit to fit Gozo.” He argued for “a true bottom-up approach to everything”.
“In that manner the policies will reflect the true needs of Gozo as felt by Gozitans themselves who still have the island at heart.
“Imposing ill-tailored policies on Gozo will bring only mediocrity and sadness and possibly ruin Gozo too,” Azzopardi said.
Rubbish and more
Besides the impact on traditional townscapes, councils are also worried about various other issues arising from the proliferation of new apartment blocks.
“I wonder if whoever decided to issue such permits was or is aware of the problems he or she is causing the local councils,” said San Lawrenz mayor Noel Formosa.
Among the mayors’ complaints is that weekend visitors take out rubbish haphazardly.
Kevin Cauchi, mayor of Għajnsielem, talked of weekenders taking out black bags of rubbish on Sunday afternoons and then these being ripped apart by stray dogs or cats.
Other issues that mayors highlighted are traffic congestion, as well as dilution of community spirit.
Gozo regional president Samuel Azzopardi spoke of the “psychological and health consequences” of lowering the height of floors to fit more storeys.