Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1522634
7 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 16 JUNE 2024 NOTICE OF INTENTION Applicant Name: Cordelia Morgan Cooper ID Number: 0156423A Work Address: St George's Business Complex, Ground Floor, Elija Zammit Street, St Julians, STJ 3151, Malta I, Cordelia Morgan Cooper, holder of Maltese identity card numbered 0156423A, hereby declare my intention to carry out the following activities in my own name, in line with Employment Agencies Regulations, specifically Legal Notice 270 of 2023: Recruitment Consultancy: Providing professional services to assist businesses in finding and hiring suitable candidates. Interviewing, Selection, and Placement of Candidates in Employment: Conducting interviews, evaluating candidates, and facilitating their placement into appropriate job positions. Recruitment of Persons from Abroad for Employment in Malta or in an EU Member State: Sourcing and recruiting individuals from outside Malta for employment opportunities within Malta or other EU member states. Recruitment of Persons in Malta for Employment in Malta: Identifying and recruiting candidates residing in Malta for local job opportunities. Advertising of the Filling of Vacancies: Creating and disseminating job advertisements to attract potential candidates for various vacancies. Keeping a Register of Applicants for Employment: Maintaining a comprehensive register of individuals seeking employment, including their qualifications and job preferences. This notice is being published as a notice of intention to carry out the above-mentioned services. Cordelia Morgan Cooper Ombudsman by pressing on with heights increase of levels allowed within the metric heights of the 2015 pol- icy, clarifying some problems of interpretation on allowa- ble heights, especially in areas where basement levels are pro- hibited. The changes proposed by the PA The draft policy does not do away with the 2015 limits, but actually brings certainty to de- velopers increasingly nervous about court cases that overrule PA decisions. Specifically, where street façades are between 10.1m to 14.1m, and where total heights – including penthouse – are between 13.5m-17.5m, a build- ing can have five storeys above the highest pavement level. On the other hand, in a street façade of 6.4m-10.1m, for buildings ranging in height of 9.8m-13.5m, no more than four storeys above highest pave- ment level will be allowed. The change allows a clear- er distinction between areas where five or four storeys are allowed, but effectively means that five storeys will now be allowed in all areas where the local plan permits three floors – irrespectively of whether a basement or semi basement is allowed. And in areas limited to two floors and a semi-basement – or a maximum 13.5m height – only four storeys will be al- lowed. In most cases, the policy will retain the status quo which ef- fectively increased the number of floors on all sites limited to one, two or three storeys, by an additional fourth storey. Environmental NGO Din l-Art Ħelwa fears the policy amendment will continue en- abling the approval of 5-storey blocks on typically low-lying streetscapes, negatively im- pacting the visual harmony of these distinct locations. "The policy will transform several towns and villages into more crowded and congested areas than envisaged under current legislation. This is because the policy does not take into ac- count the impact of increased building densities." The ombudsman's advice In his feedback to the new policy, planning ombudsman Alan Saliba noted that the 2015 policy had introduced a signifi- cant number of buildings with- in Maltese streetscapes with the permitted number of floors exceeding the local plan's lim- its. But some permits were suc- cessfully challenged, with the law courts on various occasions declaring that height limits es- tablished in the local plan had to be respected. Acknowledging that the in- crease in population required higher buildings, Saliba said the local plans should be rigor- ously respected pending their review. And although he recognised this would prove to be more challenging in areas where semi-basements are not al- lowed by the local plan, he called on PA planning officers and the members of the plan- ning commission and PA board to ensure "that only proposals that fully satisfy the develop- ment planning law are ap- proved." But the PA has disregarded concerns by NGOs and citizens on the impact of allowing more floors than envisaged in the lo- cal plan, due to the impact on town densities and infrastruc- ture. In its reply to such com- ments, the PA said that while it agrees that building heights af- fect densities, densities are al- ready curtailed by the limiting provisions of the policy itself. According to the PA "the is- sue of Local Plan revision goes beyond the scope of this public consultation exercise." In re- sponse to concerns on build- ing densities affecting parking amenities, the PA simply re- plies that the "parking issue is beyond the scope" of the exer- cise.