The former Archdeacon of Gozo’s Cathedral Chapter has defended a proposal to build a car park at the Citadel in Victoria, saying that its need was justified.

We are conscious that the area we are talking about is a historic and sensitive site

Mgr Joe Vella Gauci, who had thought up the project in the early 2000s, said he was disappointed at the reasons given by the planning authority’s environment directorate to justify its “negative decision” along with comments on the social media that “did not have any depth”.

The Gozo Cathedral Chapter had filed an application to build a parking area with 84 spaces over two levels and to stabilise the slopes at the site outside the Citadel in an area known as Ir-Raba’ ta’ Wara s-Sur.

This, however, was criticised by the Environment Protection Directorate, which said it was significantly concerned about the land take-up on a site that was a candidate for inclusion on the Unesco World Heritage List, among other things.

Mgr Vella Gauci, who was Archdeacon of the Citadel’s Cathedral when the project was originally proposed, said the directorate was justifying its negative decision by saying that it was a sensitive place and the possible Unesco status.

“We are conscious that the area we are talking about is a historic and sensitive site,” he said.

In fact, it had been the Cathedral’s administration that had objected to letting off fireworks from the Citadel on religious and public feasts, Mgr Vella Gauci added.

“We had said in a press conference that, unless this atrocity stopped, we were determined to put forward the case before Unesco.”

The original proposals included spaces for 113 cars spread over three levels with a small belvedere. However, the plans had been criticised by environment groups and were downsized.

Mgr Vella Gauci said there were different objectives behind the first proposal, which started off as being on a much larger scale.

“We wanted to develop the concept of religious tourism, to create an education centre, indoor parking, a heritage park and outside parking for the benefit of the parishioner, the faithful, tourists and the Victoria business community,” he said.

These projects, however, were heavily downsized. He said that apart from easing the traffic problem and making the Citadel more accessible, the project would also strengthen and stabilise the slopes around the city.

“From an aesthetical perspective, it wasn’t going to detract from the Citadel’s majesty and would have also made use of rainwater,” he said.

He pointed out that the project had been a “political promise” and had been discussed with various officials.

However, the main aim of the project was always to set up and run a car park and nothing more.

The current archdeacon and Gozo Vicar General, Mgr Giovanni Gauci, has also voiced disagreement at the environment directorate’s decision and said the car park was sorely needed since the current makeshift field used for the purpose was not adequate.

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