Updated with architects' reaction at 3.30pm

Planning decisions concerning Mriehel should be postponed until an open consultation process has allowed everyone to have their say, the Nationalist Party said today. 

A consultation process was necessary, the PN said, given that the government had snuck Mriehel into a Floor-to-Area Ratio Policy without informing anyone. 

Calls for consultation mirror those made by environmental NGOs, which yesterday succeeded in obtaining an injunction to halt a Planning Authority decision on four Mriehel high-rise towers. The court set July 5 as the date for a new hearing.

PN environment shadow minister Marthese Portelli and planning spokesman Ryan Callus argued that the consultation process should also include a masterplan assessing the policy's impact on Mriehel's infrastructure, similar to that drafted for Paceville.  

The two PN MPs argued that MEPA had included Mriehel in the FAR policy on the government's orders, and after the consultation process had closed. 

"The PN believes the Planning Authority would be in the best position to decide once a consultation process has given everyone the chance to have their say," the statement said.

A photomontage of the development supplied by the architects.

But in a statement this afternoon, the project architects said the Environmental Planning Statement provided 11 viewpoints from all around Malta, all of which were chosen by the Planning Authority.

Only one viewpoint was indicated as having a major impact and this was the view from the fields across the Mriehel By-Pass.

The viewpoint from Mdina towards Valletta was determined as having a minor impact and described as a “small/barely noticeable change affecting a view of high intrinsic value and impacting on high sensitive receptors”, they said.

The added that the view from Hastings Garden was considered as impacted to a moderate degree. It was PA policy that official photomontages were carried out with photos taken as seen with the naked eye.

The photomontage published with this article, the architects said, was fabricated and could only have been intended to mislead.

"First of all this photomontage shows a previous scheme, which was amended nearly a year ago. Secondly the location and the height of the montage are incorrect: an old design has been zoomed in on, for effect. The building will, as determined by the Planning Authority, only have a minor impact on the view of Valletta."

They said that according to the relevant policies, the parking spaces required were 1,032 and not the stated 3,000.

The proposal also provided for 1,065 car spaces and a further 145 car spaces if required, they said.