Residents still worried over Pender Place, Mercury House development

Residents in The Gardens, St Julians and the environs are still worried about the sheer density of the Pender Place and Mercury House development, which they fear will "negatively affect their quality of life and see the value of their properties drop dramatically due to the mammoth project on their doorsteps", the preservation action group contesting the project said.

While it seems that some of their objections, particularly to the waste transfer station, were being positively considered - as was the cushioning of the adverse effects by building a line of villas between the existing ones and the proposed development - the underground car park, over four storeys deep, and the density of the entire project were still bones of contention.

However, the action group is hoping it is still in time to influence the Malta Environment and Planning Authority to curtail the project and cut it down to size to make it more compatible with the surroundings.

"We are not against the development as such. What we are against are its proportions, the disruption it would cause and the health hazards it presents," the action group said.

"Mepa has to take our legitimate concerns seriously," it insisted.

Disgruntled residents are being urged to attend a meeting tomorrow morning at Mepa in Floriana, where the master plan for the Pender Place and Mercury House sites will be discussed.

The meeting would also be focusing on the excavation of Pender Place and the levelling out of Mercury House to accommodate a temporary car park until the main one at Pender Place is completed.

Some months back, residents had signed an objection to these developments, the action group said. Since then, legal action was taken to hold all Mepa board members individually responsible if they approved the excavation of the site before an environment impact assessment was completed and presented to the authority. "We understand this has now been completed, but on asking for a copy, it was not made available," the preservation action group said.

A number of meetings have been held with the developers and the Mepa architects responsible for the project, during which the residents' concerns about the dangers to health, posed by the carbon monoxide and other toxic particles that would emanate from the proposed "enormous" public car park, were voiced.

The meetings also highlighted "the inordinate density of the development, with two towers standing 24 storeys high and other blocks having 10 floors; the disruption that would be caused to what was and still is a villa area; and the setting up of a waste transfer station at the entrance to The Gardens, intended to take the rubbish from Paceville and St George's Bay hotels, bars and restaurants".