Valletta mayor Alexiei Dingli is seeking legal advice after the transport watchdog closed a road to traffic “without the necessary consultation”.

“When a decision on vehicular access to a road is taken, the council should be consulted. This, however, did not happen and, instead, Transport Malta installed bollards without discussing it with us,” Prof. Dingli said. He insisted that such lack of consultation rendered the authority’s decision “null”.

He was referring to the stretch of Archbishop Street next to the President’s Palace leading to St George’s Square.

Traffic had been stopped during restoration works on the palace, to the delight of business owners but the dismay of residents who lamented the number of parking spaces lost during the works.

Prof. Dingli insisted yesterday the stretch was always meant to be re-opened to traffic once the works were completed.

“We cannot afford to lose out on these parking spaces, especially those for residents who already have a problem of lack of spaces,” he said.

Asked what action would be taken by the council, Prof. Dingli said he was awaiting advice on what legal remedies were available.

The council voted last Thursday for the stretch to be reopened.

Transport Malta, however, disputes this, insisting such decisions can only be taken after being approved by the traffic management committee.

A spokeswoman for the Transport Ministry said the request for the pedestrianisation of part of Archbishop Street had been made back in November 2015. Transport Malta, she added, had contacted the Valletta local council twice on November 26 and December 9 to discuss the proposal but had received no feedback.

Prof. Dingli said that, although the authorities had contacted the council, the meeting during which they were expecting to be consulted had been repeatedly cancelled.

The stretch was reopened during this weekend’s carnival festivities to allow the floats access to St George’s Square. Prof. Dingli said the stretch would remain open “as was originally planned”.

Valletta 2018 Foundation chairman Jason Micallef has expressed surprise at the council’s position, saying this went against what had previously been agreed.

He said the closing-off of Archbishop Street and the surrounding area formed part of the foundation’s “social regeneration plan”.

The Valletta council, he added, had not objected to the original decision for the road to be permanently closed to traffic.

“This is news to me and I can’t understand why the council would make such a decision,” he said.

Residents who live on the street said the closure had exacerbated the capital’s already serious parking problem.

The local business community, however, is less satisfied with the news of the planned road reopening. “This is ridiculous after the months of dust and works we have endured. The works are winding up and if the road is opened to traffic we won’t be able to set up tables outside to take advantage of foot traffic,” one business owner, who asked not to be named, said.