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Mepa urged to set height limitations for Valletta, Mdina

The extra storeys are seen just below the cathedral spires.

The extra storeys are seen just below the cathedral spires.

Heritage and environment NGO Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar has welcomed the decision to reduce the height of the Drugs Court building and urged Mepa boards to ensure that the negative impact of the additional floors is reversed completely. 

The NGO said it was urging the authorities to take this opportunity to establish once and for all, building height limitations for Valletta, Floriana, Mdina and the Three Cities.

It said the MEPA Board must ensure that all existing policies and regulations are taken into account, especially when the Case Officer’s recommendation is being overturned.

"Significant funds and aggravation would be saved if suitable modelling of building projects were carried out and assessed during the decision-taking process."

It said it was concerned that the Cultural Heritage Advisory Committee and the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage were not being consulted on all cases of a sensitive nature, especially in Valletta, Floriana, Mdina and the Three Cities.

Moreover site inspections by these bodies are essential to make a realistic assessment of the impact that proposed works are likely to have.  It should be made obligatory that in all sensitive urban conservation areas, the input of the Cultural Heritage Advisory Committee and of the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage was taken into account in the final decision. 

"If these measures were to be implemented, this regrettable case would at least have a positive outcome."

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Astrid Vella

Feb 10th, 17:26

Mr. Azzopardi, every town and village in Malta has established height limitations set by MEPA other than the most ones that need it most, ie Valletta, Floriana, Mdina and the Three Cities!

Mark Caruana

Feb 10th, 11:26

@ Sharon Farrugia. Leave partisan politics out please. The ex Minister for Justice has nothing to do with MEPA. Please leave one news site where the public can submit his complaints without resorting to partisan politics.

william cauchi

Feb 10th, 12:12

Sabiha din Mark Caruana, so if i build 3 extra floors on my house and this creates a big rumpus, than i have nothing to do with it. Me, no.

Even if this building had the friendly and atrocious blessing of our dear Mepa, even the village idiot would have known that creating such an eyesore in a supposedly Unesco World Heritage site would create a few problems.

The real problem is that how were 3 whole extra floors built and everybody was looking the other way. Where these invisible.

Mark Caruana

Feb 10th, 15:50

@ William Cauchi......Excuse me can you tell me the link between the height limitations of buildings, the ex minister of justice and the MEPA? We are talking alternatives and suggestions here. Can we as people suggest without resorting to attack? I think in this country the reason why we don't listen is that we shout too much.

william cauchi

Feb 11th, 11:02

@Mark Caruana....my comments have nothing to do with politics, or height limitations, or alternatives or suggestions

I am talking about simple common sense. Do you think that adding three floors in the center of a World Heritage Site, that stand out like sore thumb, is common sense?

If that doesn't bother you than we are a sorry lot. I am not attacking anybody, i am talking about a system that should protect us from all this, before it actually happens and not take action only when a big rumpus is created.

Astrid Vella

Feb 10th, 17:25

Mr. Vella everywhere in Malta has established height limitations set by MEPA other than Valletta, Floriana, Mdina and the Three Cities, that is why we have raised this issue.

The MEPA regulations state that buildings should not block the views to and from the Urban Conservation Area. If they have risen higher than the church in Zebbug, then obviously that regulation is being ignored, that's why we need sound height regulations, not ones drawn up to benefit speculators.

Jimmy Magro

Feb 10th, 10:56

And if a new law court is ever planned, the height of the chambers do not be to be such as those on the second level of our current law courts. Dignity in the court room is not ontained by the height of the chamber, but by the wisdom of the Bench, in making sure that there is full respect to the law, consistency in sentencing and no behind the door deals.

Victor Rodenas

Feb 10th, 10:18

In Swieqi the permit before was for terraced houses and maisonettes,now it is a concrete jungle.

Astrid Vella

Feb 10th, 10:07

Mr. Zammit everywhere in Malta has established height limitations set by MEPA other than Valletta, Floriana, Mdina and the Three Cities, that is why we have raised this issue.

Having said that, we regard many of the 2006 height limitations as being abusive, as they are set too high in narrow streets in violation of the Police code which establishes the height of buildings in proportion to the width of the street - a building can't be more than 3 times the width of the street. In Sliema we have lanes of three metres which have gone up to 9 floors!

Marsaskala is similarly ruined by towering buildings engulfing homes beneath, when many cities abroad are limited to 5 or 6 floors on wide boulevards! The public cannot be blamed for thinking that many instances of inappropriate heights were set in order to accommodate particular building interests.

Mark Caruana

Feb 10th, 11:20

I completely agree. Marsaskala was turned from a pictoresque village to a concrete jungle without respect. To add insult to injury apartment height limitation was raised after initial building permits when more than half of the apartments were and are still unoccupied leaving developers making life hell to most residents.

Joseph Camilleri

Feb 10th, 09:23

bil-barka ta' Gonzi? u dik ta' Roderick Galdes ukoll nimmagina?

VINCENT WILLIAMS

Feb 10th, 16:37

Sorry Mr. Joseph Camilleri. It is with the blessing of GonzoPartitNegattiv. You are imagining wrongly as it is not with the blessing of Roderick Galdes. Don't argue as the Nationalists has been doing for years. That is, it is everybodies' fault but not that of the PN Governments.

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