High Street, Sliema pavement widening

I refer to the article carried on July 3 wherein it was reported that the Sliema local council is "checking" on the widening of the pavement in High Street, Sliema.

First of all, it would have been useful had the council actually checked with the approved Mepa permit instead of giving publicity to the fact that they are checking. An actual checking would have saved the trouble and confirmed that the works carried out are in fact fully covered by the relevant permit, and would have additionally avoided the current situation, where a shadow of doubt has been unjustly cast over the development.

Secondly, the part of the development referred to is not a widening of the pavement but the hotel's coaches' lay-by, which forms part of the road. Had a decision been taken to leave the pavement as it was, the lay-by would have actually had to be further out in the street. The council may have misinterpreted the road markings for this lay-by since whereas road markings usually consist of cheap white paint, this has been replaced by a much more durable high-quality hard stone. Our intention was to use lava paving for this area. However, given the Council's complaint, we have now reassessed our position, decided to appease the council, and shall be covering the area with tarmac.

The local council must realise that the parking of cars cannot be allowed in front of garages, let alone five-star hotel drive ways. We could have easily opted not to construct a hotel carport and increased the precious interior space of the hotel, however, we have chosen to sacrifice some of this internal space to ensure a better neighbourhood and alleviate traffic congestion. A further point on the loss of three car spaces as a result of the coach lay-by: The fact is that we have accommodated over 100 extra car spaces for the neighbouring residents within the hotel underground car park.

Without these spaces, the surrounding streets would have had to absorb this increased need for parking spaces.

Finally, we wish to express the view that Mepa took positive action for the benefit of the locality by recommending a coach lay-by, considering the location of the hotel, rather than allowing parking by the side of the road or an entrance to the main underground car park.