Transfiguration of Mepa local plans needed

The controversy about the allowable building height in Transfiguration Avenue, Lija - where the Belvedere Tower is a unique focal point - has provoked Lija Council to undertake a thorough study of the development policies in their locality according to the Malta Environment and Planning Authority's approved Central Malta Local Plan.

The Transfiguration Avenue controversy gave an inkling of the shoddy way local plans were produced, in spite of the fact that it took 17 long years for the approved versions to become operative. Any Tom, Dick or Harry without any qualification in planning would have immediately realised that allowing a building height of three floors, plus semi-basement, plus penthouse in any part of Transfiguration Avenue would inevitably impinge negatively on the aesthetic aspect of the area because the buildings in the street would end up competing with the tower for attention.

Yet the local plans were the result of studies and considerations by people who are technically qualified in planning, people who should not have made the glaring slip of raising the building height in the part of Transfiguration Avenue just behind the Belvedere Tower.

I believe that this was the result of these people not bothering to go on site and see for themselves whether their proposals that might look sensible on paper actually make any sense on site. This lack of knowledge of what there is on site - in contrast to what one imagines even from a thorough look at the plans - seems to pervade all local plans that, as a result, include myriad Mepa-wrought problems.

Lija Council is to be commended for launching the study that takes into account how the Central Malta Local Plan impinges on its village, and publishing a report that exposes the shortcomings of the local plans, besides making a number of sensible proposals aimed at rectifying them.

Mepa insiders try to defend themselves by pointing out that before obtaining ministerial approval for the different local plans, there were a number of changes 'imposed' from above. Even so, most shortcomings that are now raising eyebrows were in the draft local plans as formulated by Mepa without any politically-inspired changes.

Another issue that is unmistakeably palpable in the Lija Council document is whether it was a good idea to lump a number of localities together in one local plan that includes a number of policies applicable to these places. The 'Central Malta' Local Plan, in fact, covers an area that includes Attard, Balzan, Birkirkara, Gharghur, Hamrun, Iklin, Mosta, Naxxar, Qormi, and Santa Venera besides Lija.

Among other things, the Lija Council document points out the policy on supermarkets that can be built within residential areas and according to particular parameters. A supermarket may make sense in Birkirkara but Lija is hardly a place where supermarkets should be built, more so when there are already supermarkets easily accessed from Lija.

As the document states, "properly located and well-designed shops are much more in line with the character of this village (Lija) than supermarkets and large shops." The same argument goes for the policies on class three hostels and guesthouses that are also allowed in Lija by the local plan.

The local plan allows for an increase in density by raising the building heights in large areas within the different localities covered by it. Is it right, asks the council, to treat Lija just like the other localities and does it make sense to make Lija more densely populated? Of course, there is no straight answer to this question, but one appreciates the way Lija Council wants to preserve the characteristics of its village in the most jealous manner.

Sometimes the Lija Council document overdoes it, as when it insists that in the village 'hot food take-aways should be limited to traditional Maltese snacks'. Whether a takeaway serves Maltese ftira, Italian pizza, Chinese noodles, Mexican tortillas or British fish and chips is hardly a planning consideration!

The Lija Council document also refers to the policy on protection of areas which are designated as 'Open Space Enclaves' and indicated as such in the relevant map.

It points out that "there are open spaces and gardens in Lija, which appear to qualify for such designation but have not been so designated." This sort a problem again reflects the lack of thorough on-site studies and could give rise to suspicions that someone at Mepa purposely treated such spaces - belonging to different owners - in a discriminatory manner. This discrimination was probably unintended and the result of carelessness, but public perception will not accept this explanation. This is the road to perdition, paved with good intentions laced with unintended mistakes.

The exercise carried out by Lija Council should induce Mepa to revise its much criticised local plans, village by village. This process should be undertaken in all localities and should include serious consultation with the relevant local councils. Perhaps innovative ideas from the local level might shake up the complacency that is currently so evident in our planning regime.

micfal@maltanet.net