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NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 15 MAY 2019 2 JAMES DEBONO ARCHITECT Chris Grech, one of Labour's heavyweight candidates for Mosta and the brains contributing to its manifesto for Mosta, insists that he only heard of a prom- ise-of-sale agreement ear- marking the gardens of Villa Gollcher for a carpark when asked about it by MaltaToday on Friday. He insists that the Labour Party's plans for Mosta do not foresee any car parks on the two private gardens in the lo- cality, namely Villa Gollcher and Villa Mifsud Grech, which he described as "the two green lungs of Mosta". The party's manifesto pro- poses "a public underground car park" in a "central loca- tion" in Mosta without iden- tifying a site. It also proposes a site-selection exercise for identifying a new site for the relocation of the Mosta civic centre, with the aim of trans- forming the area around the church in an open space. MaltaToday contacted Grech after receiving reports from different sources about a meeting he had organised for the business community in which Grech outlined his plans on traffic and busi- nesses. The meeting was also attended by Kola Formosa, the developer who signed the promise-of-sale agreement earmarking the garden for development, on condition of the issuance of planning per- mit. No planning application has so far been submitted but MaltaToday has been receiv- ing reports from different sources, including residents in the area, about plans to develop the garden since De- cember. But when asked about this meeting, Grech insists that Villa Gollcher was not even mentioned during this meet- ing. When asked about the pres- ence of Formosa among the businessmen attending the meeting, Grech replied that he was present because he owns a couple of shops in Mosta. When asked specifically on the proposal to turn the gar- den in to a carpark he replied that "the proposal merits dis- cussion" in the same way as any other application present- ed by private individuals. But he expressed scepticism that such a proposal can ever be approved because the site is designated by the local plan as a "green enclave". "From my professional expe- rience as an architect it is dif- ficult to develop a pool in such enclaves let alone a large car park," he said. He also believes that "ideally" the garden should be turned in to a public garden to be enjoyed by everyone, but this option would only be possible if the site is bought from its current owners by the government. When asked where the new Mosta car park and civic cen- tre should be located, Grech replied that "one should con- sider developing a number of small underground carparks" and not one mega carpark. He also expressed his reser- vations on original plans by government to develop a big car park in the vicinity of the Mosta church, adding that although technology has im- proved, one should not risk any damage to the Mosta church. He also said that the choice is limited to publicly-owned lands, possibly under existing squares like the one where the Mosta flea market is located. He also mentioned the possi- bility of a car park and ride to the Mosta centre. Moreover the civic centre can be located on an already existing public building in Mosta. Grech insists that his prior- ity is to see the Mosta square transformed "into an open and paved square in which one finds facilities, benches, fountains and more space and table and chairs for catering establishments." Another priority for Grech is better traffic management, including public consultation on the redirection of traffic in a way that access to the cen- tral square will be through Eu- charistic Congress street. 'Mosta gardens must stay green lung' - Labour candidate The 13,000 sq.m Mosta garden is presently full of citrus trees and is arguably protected from development by the local plan as a "green enclave" CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 He was also being charged with committing a crime during the operative period of a suspended sentence, pointed out the in- spector. Defence lawyer Stefano Filletti asked for the ban on the publica- tion of the name of the accused, arguing that such cases arouse a lot of public interest and the fact that his client was innocent un- til proven guilty was lost on the media and public. "His life will be ruined by the publication of his name. It is of no benefit to him, the victim or anyone else," he said. One of the victim's lawyers, Ar- thur Azzopardi, also asked for a ban on publication, but for the reason that the victim would eas- ily be identified as she was part of the men's circle of friends. The court upheld the requests. The court, in view of the grav- ity of the crimes alleged and the possibility of tampering with evi- dence, denied all three men bail. Inspectors John Spiteri and Ky- lie Borg are prosecuting. Lawyers Stefano Filletti, Ste- phen Tonna Lowell, Leslie Cuschieri and Roberto Montalto are appearing for the accused men. Lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Alfred Abela appeared for the victim and her family. Lawyers request ban on publication of accused's names

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