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11 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 27 NOVEMBER 2013 Editorial MaltaToday, MediaToday Co. Ltd, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 MANAGING DIRECTOR: ROGER DE GIORGIO MANAGING EDITOR: SAVIOUR BALZAN Tel: (356) 21 382741-3, 21 382745-6 • Fax: (356) 21 385075 Website: www.maltatoday.com.mt E-mail: newsroom@mediatoday.com.mt The Mistrafication of Malta The new planning policy on building heights issued for public consultation on Monday limits the development of 10 storey plus buildings to Marsa, Gzira, Tigne, Qawra and possibly Pembroke (which is identified as a reserve site). It also opens the floodgates for high rise development of up to 10 floors in a wider area, encompassing localities like Sliema, St Julian's, Marsascala, Msida, St Paul's Bay, Gzira and Pieta, most of which already taken the brunt of over-development. Effectively, 10 storey buildings will be permitted in these localities even if the present local plan limits development to six, seven or eight stories. Parliamentary secretary Michael Farrugia is right in saying that the Mistra development would not have been approved if the current policy had been in place in 2008, when the outline permit was issued. Yet he fails to recognise that Malta is a small country with a sensitive landscape. Its landscape is an integral part of its identity. Farrugia was right in excluding high-rise development in Gozo. The same criteria used to exclude high-rise in Gozo may well be applied to Malta, a small island with a unique historical, cultural and natural landscape. Though the new policy requires any prospective developer to present a visual impact assessment, it is impossible to shield the landscape from the impact of tall buildings. Moreover, the planning policy itself does not even set a capping the height of tall buildings. Surely, tall buildings can be turned in to architectural gems but while these can enrich culturally barren landscapes like that of Dubai they can also impoverish a landscape which is already rich and splendid like ours. This is why the new policy may well represent another step in what Din l-Art Helwa President Simone Mizzi coined as the 'Mistrafication' of Malta. The new policy speaks about creating new landmark buildings to give the country a "prestigious corporate identity". But is this the identity that our country needs? Do tourists come to visit Malta to see enormous corporate buildings and sterile cultural landscapes in the shape of paved open spaces set in the midst of an urban jungle? It is positive that Malta finally has a policy on tall buildings. It was unacceptable that projects like Mistra, Fort Cambridge and the Tigne developments were approved in the absence of such a policy. In fact, a draft policy which is remarkably similar to the one presented on Monday was left pending by the previous government since 2006, possibly because after opening the floodgates of development, the PN feared antagonising civil society further with even more high rise development. But it does not make sense to blitz the country with new policies, all of which seem meant to accommodate more and more development? We should not forget that apart from this policy, MEPA has already approved a policy allowing hotels in tourist locations to add two floors. Moreover, MEPA is already revising this policy to allow four- and five-star hotels to add an unlimited number of additional floors. It is also drafting a policy on firework factories and has already presented a policy on ODZ developments which foresees new constructions in buffer zones to Natura 2000 sites. MEPA is also revising the 2006 local plans. In parallel to this, the government has issued expression of interests for land reclamation and a yacht marina in Gozo. As an aside, it is also revising the structure plan. A more logical approach would have been to complete the update of the Structure Plan, which ultimately determines our vision of the country's development, than to revise the local plans following public consultation and only than proceed to change specific policies like those on building heights and ODZ. It seems that in its rush to revive the fortunes of the construction industry – in a bid to kick-start the economy – the government has lost the plot. For it remains unclear whether Malta even needs any more residential development. While the tall towers are being mostly earmarked for offices and tourism development, the spate of medium-rise development will increase the number of dwellings in a country with a very large stock of vacant properties. Therefore the argument that vertical development will reduce pressure on the countryside does not hold water. For Malta can do without both if it finds a way to utilise and regenerate the current vacant stock of properties.

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