The Vittoriosa local council is calling on the parish church to reconsider a proposal to install an external lift that would allow wheelchair users and the elderly to access the building and hear Mass.

“Accessibility to the St Lawrence parish church is a priority for the council. We have an aging population and there are people who spent their entire lives hearing Mass at the church but now cannot access it because of their age,” mayor John Boxall said.

Improving accessibility was also important for tourists because Vittoriosa was fast becoming a popular attraction, he added.

The lack of accessibility to parish church in the locality was highlighted in an item on The Times featuring the plight of wheelchair user Roberta Magri. The 20-year-old was unable to attend her aunt’s funeral Mass last month because she could not enter the church with her wheelchair.

Built between 1681 and 1697, the Vittoriosa church is only accessible through a steep flight of steps. A ramp cannot be installed because it would be too steep and so considered to be dangerous for wheelchair users.

In 2003, the parish filed a planning application to install a lift in the belfry that would allow wheelchair users to access the church through St Lawrence Street. The application was rejected by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority deeming the belfry scheduled property.

Mepa recently committed itself to have talks with the parish to find a solution to the accessibility issue while safeguarding the church’s historical integrity.

Mr Boxall is urging the parish to give priority to the accessibility issue.

He explained that, years ago, before the planning application was filed, the Order of the Knights of St John had agreed to help fund a lift given that the church had served as the main temple of the Order before Valletta and St John’s Co-Cathedral were built.

Back then, he recalled, the local council had suggested an external lift but the parish applied for an internal facility in the belfry. Once Mepa turned down that application, the council has called on the Church to reconsider the external lift option.

Vittoriosa parish priest Fr Joe Caruana said he was “more than willing” to listen to feasible alternatives to improve accessibility. However, he felt the council’s suggestion – to install an external lift – was not the ideal option. To start with, he said, the lift would be open to the elements and require a lot of maintenance. It was potentially dangerous to disabled children. “A child, or anyone using the lift, could easily put his/her hand outside the chair lift and have it crushed against the adjacent wall,” he said.

Fr Caruana believes that installing the lift in the belfry was the best option as it was not visible from the outside and would not affect the manner in which the belfry functioned.