The president of the newly formed Valletta retailers' committee insists that after the loss of parking bays at St George's Square, which is being remodelled, the city cannot afford to lose more spaces.

The new committee brings together representatives of the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises, GRTU, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Republic Street Business Committee.

Paul Fenech, who heads the committee, said the demand for parking spaces in and outside the city in the morning was bigger than the supply.

"Valletta shops are functioning below their potential. Apart from this, the extra driving to find a parking space simply creates more pollution and noise. We believe the number of parking spaces has to increase," Mr Fenech said.

Valletta retailers have for the past weeks stuck notices on their shop windows calling for a solution to their parking concerns before work starts on the Renzo Piano plans for City Gate early next year.

City Gate's regeneration would mean the loss of around 400 parking spaces in Freedom Square and St James Ditch.

"The aim of the sticker campaign is to raise awareness about the fact that Valletta cannot lose more parking spaces. The campaign has got the government listening to our concerns," Mr Fenech said, emphasising that shop owners should not be the ones to pay the price of change.

He said they were not against the rehabilitation of Valletta but along with the major projects, short and long-term solutions had to be found for parking.

At the beginning of August the Investments Ministry had told The Times the number of parking spaces that would be lost because of Renzo Piano's projects would be replaced by increasing the capacity of the park-and-ride parking area in Blata l-Bajda.

Mr Fenech agreed with this solution but ventured one step further. "It might be time to review the CVA system for access into Valletta to encourage a healthier turnaround of shoppers and visitors and discourage day-long parking by people who work in the city," he said.

However, parking is not the only concern linked to Valletta's major regeneration projects.

Mr Fenech said a solution had to be found for traffic flow within the city once the street above City Gate was removed.

"Access to Valletta is as important as parking and we hope the Piano projects are accompanied by serious studies that take into consideration the reform of public transport, parking spaces and traffic arrangements in and outside the city," he said.

The committee is also supporting the shop owners at City Gate and the old theatre, who stand to lose their outlets because of the projects.

"Although discussions are being held between the government and the individual shop owners, we are offering our support and we hope a solution is found to the problem," Mr Fenech said.

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