Tuesday, 19th January 2010 - 15:35CET
DCC refers Villa Degiorgio development application to heritage committee
A Mepa Development Control Commission has put off a decision on an application for the redevelopment of Villa Degiorgio in Sliema and instead referred the case file to the Mepa Cultural Heritage Advisory Committee for its input.
The planned transformation of the villa and its large garden into a number of apartments - while retaining the façade - had raised protests from the Sliema Residents Association, which warned it would change the character of the area known as Tat-Tliet Sigriet at the junction of Dingli Street with High Street.
The DCC also decided today that the Development Control Officer would examine a number of photo montages submitted by the objectors to check their accuracy.
The Sliema Residents Association had also warned that this development would deny Sliema a 'green lung' formed by the gardens and would also cause a domino affect of redevelopment of neighbouring properties. The development would also increase traffic in an area which already suffers traffic congestion.
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a)MEPA's own Norther Harbours Local Plan states that Sliema is overdeveloped
b) MEPA's own air quality monitoring reports which state that air polltion levels in Sliema exceed the EU safety levels
c) ADT asserts that the Sliema main road infrastructure is overloaded beyond their capacity
d) A traffic management report commissioned by a private developer which confirms ADT's report on inadequate road infrastructure
e) ADT asserts that more developoment in Sliema will precipitate the already precarious Sliema traffic problems.
It is time that Sliema residents unite, voice their concerns and support the Sliema Residents' Association in its work to make Sliema a better place to live in.
It is too late in the day for your proposal to have any effect and there are flats all around the area in question. Some date back to the sixties.
I am not surprised, take a look what is still happening at Bahrija and all around the country.
Realistically, there are only four main ways of entering Sliema: that is, driving in through the Sliema front (towards St Julians or Msida), driving through Manuel Dimech Street or through the network of narrow roads near the Sliema Primary School. All these roads are narrow and cannot cope with further congestion.
It's bad enough that High Street Sliema is often blocked by coaches serving the new Palace hotel - blocking the Tlett Sigriet area during and after building-works will just serve to intensify the grid-lock.