Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1500345
NEWS 7 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 31 MAY 2023 warned to be more careful in property following Santa Lucija case thority "still has no position on what to do", after the court decision. Pizzuto also provocatively asked whether height limitations in the local plan should be removed. If you ask me "one possible solution is to remove all the maps indicating heights in local plan and determine height on the basis of context." Claire Bonello disagreed with this sug- gestion. "One needs an approximate idea of what can be allowed," she said. She also pointed out that the Santa Lu- cija decision only impacts areas whose skyline remains untouched, and which are still characterised by a uniform height and design, noting that "unfortu- nately these areas are becoming rarer." Who is to blame; the PA or the archi- tect? Simone Vella Lenicker expects the court decision to result in a greater sense of responsibility on the part of case officers who should show greater awareness of the surrounding context. "The policies were never intended to give full certainty. It was the Planning Authority which created a sense of cer- tainty by making five floors an automat- ic right when it was never the case." But Vella Lineker was also scathing in her criticism of her profession. "We are the ones submitting the applications. We cannot just blame the PA. We are the ones putting our name to the rub- bish which is being approved." This sentiment was shared by Din l-Art Helwa Executive President Alex Torpiano, who is an architect himself. "The quality of what we are doing is often abysmal. We have responsibility to offer something of good quality." Architects participating in the semi- nar insisted on the need for consistency on the part of the PA. This sentiment was shared by Claire Bonello who referred to a case of two proposed mechanic garages in the same street, one of which was turned down and another approved despite being assessed by the same board under the same policy regime. The site in Santa Lucija where a proposed five-storey development was going to rise above the surrounding rows of two-storey houses. Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti (inset) revoked the permit, insisting the height limitations set out in the local plan did not grant developers an automatic right to build that high Architects were warned at a seminar that property valuations should take into consideration the surrounding context of a property