Sliema townhouses on death row

On August 27, the Mepa DCC board will meet to decide the fate of two adjoining beautiful Sliema townhouses, numbers 9 and 10, Dingli Street. (PA 2114/07, PA 03265/07).

These are two of the few remaining grand Sliema town houses, still in a preserved streetscape of similar houses in Sliema's widest road. They are close to the area known as "the three trees" close to the heart of Sliema. One of the houses has elaborate carvings and corbelling with an elaborate stone balcony at the site of number 63 bus stop where Dingli Street widens at the junction with Princess Poutiatine Street. It is also the house seen straight ahead when one walks from Victoria Junction onto Dingli Street.

The permit application is to develop flats and garages, retaining the façade. In practice this means that the ground floor façade will probably be mostly destroyed by installing a door to the garage, and the first floor retained but buried under several stories of a new building. Facadism is only a token towards conservation to allow development.

Mepa's own DPA board has recommended that permission is refused.

This application will be a litmus test for the new Mepa. Will Mepa continue to support rampant development or will it finally start to protect the heritage entrusted to its care?