St Julians residents have had enough of the overdevelopment that is turning their village into a noisy, polluted and congested nightmare and will be voicing their frustration during a protest on Saturday.
We are not anti-development but it has to be legal, within reason and respectful of residents
“The people are fed up with all this construction. The noise, the dust, the traffic... We’re trying to protect our neighbourhood,” resident Julian Caruana said.
“Through the protest we want to try to put pressure on the planning authority to stop bending the rules and finding loopholes,” added Mr Caruana, a member of the St Julians Residents’ Association.
The association is organising the protest – Save St Julians – with environmental NGO Flimkien Għall-Ambjent Aħjar.
Astrid Vella, from FAA, gave the example of the proposed development on the Villa Frieres site in the heart of Spinola.
The application proposes the restoration and use of the villa as a diplomatic residence and the building of 21 apartments overlying shops in Spinola square.
The project was recommended for approval when it was a seven-storey project in a three-storey area, Ms Vella said.
“This is a shocking case. Through the protest we hope to achieve legality. It has not always been the case... We are not anti-development but it has to be legal, within reason and respectful of residents,” she said.
Ms Vella pointed out that the 2005 census showed there were over 4,500 empty properties in the Sliema/St Julians area.
Yet, nine major projects were being planned in the space of just one kilometre.
Mepa kept granting permits without looking at the holistic picture and the impact of construction on residents, she said.
Resident Michel Spiteri said locals were calling for serious studies to be carried out by Mepa before allowing more construction to take place.
His neighbourhood had become infested with traffic, noise and pollution.
“On Saturday we want to make a public statement that what’s going on is unacceptable... We’re not going to take it any longer. They’ve been eating away at our village, block by block,” Mr Spiteri, also a member of the residents’ association, said.
Mr Caruana added: “We want Mepa to follow the rules and respect us residents as human beings who want to enjoy the property we worked so hard to afford.”
Protesters will be meeting at 10 a.m. in Spinola square on Saturday. For information visit the Facebook page, www.facebook.com/savestjulians.