Permit for truck to go down St Ursula Street withdrawn

The Malta Environment and Planning Authority and Valletta local council have withdrawn an entry permit allowing a truck to drive down the steps of St Ursula Street, Valletta, and are to assess whether any damage has been done.

The decision was taken after several residents protested with The Times, in an article carried on Friday, about the "irreparable damage" that the truck was causing.

The truck was being used to carry construction material to and from a private residence which is being restored by its owner, Mark Borg.

With the full permits in hand to carry out the construction work and the green light from the Valletta council allowing the truck to drive down the steps, situated bang in the centre of the street, the work started in earnest two weeks ago.

The council agreed to issue the entry permit after the Valletta Rehabilitation Project gave its recommendation on the understanding that any damage caused to the steps would be made good, and secured a Lm500 deposit as a guarantee.

However, the sight of a huge truck driving down the low steps, which were built in the time of the Knights of St John, irked the Valletta residents who questioned how they could ever be repaired and restored to their original state.

The steps, already badly damaged by heavy vehicles in the past, are also broken in places by the repeated digging up of the road to place in new services.

Mr Borg, accompanied by his architect, Wilfrid Debattista and his contractor, on Saturday called a meeting for the VRP, the council and residents to discuss the situation.

Mayor Paul Borg Olivier said when contacted that he was not informed of the meeting.

Mr Debattista insisted that the steps would be restored to their original state - each would be lifted up and relaid.

"The building which the owner is trying to restore was condemned and the contractor insisted that works on the dilapidated tenement could not be carried out unless a truck was allowed to drive down the steps," he said.

"Such resistance by residents only serves to discourage people from buying property in Valletta," Mr Debattista argued.

But residents saw this as a lame excuse, saying that when they had to carry out heavy work on their own property, their workmen were made to use a wheelbarrow to carry all the rubble and construction material.

"If need be, they should use the money deposited as a guarantee to pay the workmen more to do the work using a cart - this is a world heritage city, so let us protect it," one resident said.

Another older resident said that when work was being carried out on the British Hotel in the street a makeshift ramp had been set up to serve as a protective barrier. He questioned why this had not been adopted in this case.

"We have no difficulty about the owner restoring his property, but this should not be done at the expense of our heritage," another resident insisted.

The owner, who has found himself at the centre of an unexpected controversy, said that once he got the MEPA development permit he did not just forge ahead and remove the bollards at the foot of St Ursula steps.

"Instead I went to the local council to discuss how best we could carry out the work without damaging these charming steps - these talks took over a year until we finally got an entry permit," Mr Borg said.

Dr Borg Olivier confirmed that the council had resisted giving an entry permit for a year and only gave in when the VRP gave its recommendation.

"We conducted a photographic survey of the steps before the works started and we will now analyse it to see whether any damage has been done," he said.

Dr Borg Olivier added that the permit was being temporarily withdrawn and the council would now determine whether to impose further conditions on the contractor.

Meanwhile, VRP executive coordinator Ray Bondin said the VRP had recommended that the council allow one truck per day to drive down the steps on condition that any damage would be paid for by the contractor.

"When the VRP was advised that damage was being caused, it took immediate action to assess the situation and found that the level of many steps had been lowered," he said.

Mr Bondin said the VRP had sent an e-mail to the council recommending that the entry permit for the truck be withdrawn.