Mepa is waxing lyrical in a series of advertisements in The Times on the theme, Protecting The Most Significant Buildings, Monuments And Features In Valletta. I laud these advertisements because through them Mepa is generating a wider consciousness of our historical and cultural heritage. These advertisements also make it possible for us to sit in judgment on the level of protection Mepa extends to the buildings, monuments and features it schedules.
The Mepa advertisement appearing in The Times on May 22 concerned the building housing the Casino Maltese, which Mepa scheduled as a Grade 1 national monument. Grade 1 scheduling is supposed to give the building concerned the highest level of protection. This building has an interesting history as its ground floor level has always housed a number of commercial establishments.
About 40 years ago its Old Theatre street flank lost the last of the not unpleasant 19th century shop front façades and this side of the building was largely restored to its original state. Yet Mepa, after scheduling this building, ignored completely its own scheduling and went against the recommendations of its own Heritage Board when it sanctioned the erection of the Café Cordina ascetically highly offensive battleship grey metal accretion on the Old Theatre street flank. It acted in the same manner when it sanctioned the works currently nearing completion on the Marks and Spencer entrance.
The conclusion one is led to is that scheduling a building etc. only affords it protection until a Mepa DCC board decides otherwise. Scheduling therefore affords very little or no protection at all. In many other countries sites and buildings enjoying the highest level of protection are only interfered with after a decision is taken at the very highest level, often the political level.
As we all know, the Prime Minister has now taken over responsibility for Mepa's long overdue reform.
May I suggest to him that he includes this aspect of Mepa's responsibilities in his reform and that he makes it legally possible for the highly offensive Café Cordina accretion to be removed. May I also suggest to him that he also directs a reformed Mepa to schedule city and village squares. It is not beyond the realms of possibility for Mepa to sanction a development which would spoil completely a harmonious city or village square. Indeed this has already occurred in a number of instances.