The public 'consultation' meeting about the Balluta Square proposals held by St Julian's local council at the Le Meridien Hotel on November 27 was a rowdy affair. Local residents told the council in no uncertain terms what to do with the proposals.

I felt sorry for the young architect who had the unenviable task of explaining the proposed automated parking system to a hostile crowd.

Given the brief to provide a parking garage in such a sensitive area, the architect should be commended for coming up with a solution (albeit a costly and challenging one) that, when completed, would physically impact the square minimally.

However, the question the council should have considered before embarking on this scheme was not 'how' to build a parking garage without impacting the square but 'why' build at all. The council's statement that it had access to funds for this purpose is not a good enough reason.

Residents pointed out that the Le Meridien Hotel underground car park regularly had several hundred vacant parking spaces. If this is the case, surely building another 'paying' car park to create a net increase of around 70 to 80 spaces would not resolve any current parking issues in the area.

I wonder if the council has ever considered negotiating a win-win situation with Le Meridien Hotel to take over unused spaces in the hotel's car park and make them available to residents/visitors for long- or short-term stays at subsidised rates.

This way, it might even be able to remove some of the unsightly on-street parking around the square, thus further enhancing it.