Mepa approved an application for external lighting systems at the Auberge de Castille, St James Cavalier and the Malta Stock Exchange in Valletta on the same day it was validated.
In contrast, it took the planning authority five more days to approve an application for bicycle racks at Lascaris, also in the capital, submitted by the same applicant and validated on the same day.
Stephen Zrinzo Azzopardi submitted DNO applications for the exterior lighting system and the Lascaris bicycle rack on behalf of the Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation on September 30. The applications were validated on October 2.
Clearance for the lighting system was given on the same day and that for the bicycle racks was given on October 7.
The rate at which the planning authority processed and approved the lighting system on the three Grade 1 scheduled monuments was the fastest of the 34 DNO applications received on September 30.This was followed by the approval of an application for a PV system at the Junior College and an application to combine two apartments on October 6.
Only nine DNO applications out of the 34 submitted on September 30 were approved in October and another six have been given clearance so far this month. The remaining 19 applications are yet to be decided.
The original lighting designs for Castille Square included two huge lamp posts. However, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Joe Mizzi said the government decided to “illuminate the square in a professional manner to reflect the historical buildings’ history” in view of the criticism that met the proposed design.
Illuminate Castille to reflect history
SPLD, a Swiss company, recommended an illumination scheme for the square, including the facades of the Auberge de Castille, which houses the Office of the Prime Minister, the Stock Exchange and St James Cavalier.
The Restoration Directorate within the Ministry for Transport and Infrastructure, which was responsible for the five-year restoration project of the façade of the Auberge de Castille between 2009 and 2014, was not consulted in the exercise, sources said. The Superintendence for Cultural Heritage approved the proposal, subject to a “number of conditions”.
Mr Mizzi said the conditions imposed “were being observed”.
The Times of Malta unsuccessfully sought a copy of these conditions from the Transport Ministry, the Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation and the Cultural Heritage Superintendence.
The Nationalist Party said that two conditions imposed by the cultural heritage watchdog stipulated that routing the wires had to avoid interventions on the historic fabric and follow the paths that were closed during recent restoration works. All interventions had to be reversible.
Photographs of the lighting system raise doubts about whether these conditions were observed.
Planning experts told the Times of Malta that Mepa could have insisted on a development application, rather than a simple DNO, for the works on Grade 1 scheduled monuments which feature on the Unesco World Heritage Valletta inscription. Following such a procedure provides for a wider consultation and a decision taken during a public Mepa sitting.
The experts also accused Mepa of failing to ensure the conditions to regulate the works on the historic monuments were observed.