Need to protect the gardens of Sliema

The Sliema Residents' Association is rightly calling on Mepa to preserve and protect open spaces, town houses and gardens found within Sliema, so as to halt over-development and the loss of further green areas.

Besides the three large gardens mentioned in the article that appeared in The Times on August 31, one other such green lung exists in the conglomeration of large gardens behind old houses in High Street near the Tliet Siġriet area. This sizeable enclave is also being threatened by the pending development application of Villa Degorgio.

This threat to the whole Sliema community, which violates the policies of the Sliema Local Plan, has already been acknowledged and opposed by the residents, the Sliema local council unanimously, AD, FAA and SRA.

It is not too late for Mepa to designate protected garden enclaves in Sliema and St Julians as it has done in almost every urban core in Malta.