Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/765642
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 21 DECEMBER 2016 News 7 MATTHEW VELLA THE Planning Authority yester- day denied allegations made by environmental NGO Flimkien Ghall-Ambjent Ahjar (FAA), in which it alleged that executive chairperson Johann Buttigieg defended a hotel developer at a public hearing meeting last week. FAA said Buttigieg used his Planning Board seat to defend developer Michaela Stivala's eight-storey hotel in Gżira. It said it was "disgusted" by Buttigieg's behaviour during the hearing for the hotel application by Stivala, who also serves as the Malta De- velopment Association's general secretary. Buttigieg replied today in a statement from the PA that the FAA had "unprofessionally chose to select and quote out of context" what was said during the discussion. Stivala owns the four-storey Blubay Hotel & Apartments and is now seeking planning per- mission to double the building's height, which the FAA alleges are a series of "piecemeal appli- cations". Buttigieg, the NGO alleged, leapt to Stivala's defence dur- ing the board meeting when the applicant was asked why his ap- plication would result in fewer, rather than more, parking spac- es. "Are the parking facilities on site even used?" Buttigieg was alleged to have mused out aloud. FAA claimed that when the Planning Board noted that lo- cal plans for the area only al- lowed for hostels rather than hotels, Buttigieg intervened to say that "there are many hotels built in areas which are not des- ignated for hotels", and that when fellow board member asked if he thought it was a good thing, Buttigieg rebutted, "No, just stat- ing it". FAA says the application should never have been heard by the Planning Board in the first place, which usually concerns itself with large-scale projects, because this ensured the presence of Buttigieg. On his part, the CEO said he had no voting rights on the Plan- ning Board and that it was his du- ty, according to law, to give advice to the Planning Board on matters discussed by the same board. "The Executive Chairperson, during the discussion, drew the attention of the board that the applicant had two main options to consider: the first option is to revert the use of the ho- tel back to a hos- tel and therefore retain the existing building in height. With this option, the Board may con- sider granting planning per- mission for the change of use of the adjoining property from a residence into a hostel and will serve as an extension to the existing hostel. "The second option was to retain the use as a hotel and extend verti- cally to include the additional f loors permitted over hotel devel- opment, and to remove the proposed lat- eral extension of the hotel which take over the neighbouring residence. Any additional f loors should include setbacks and oth- er mitigation measures to avoid blank party walls. In fact, the Board deferred this planning ap- plication and gave the applicant the chance to evaluate whether to amend, withdraw or retain the planning application proposal," the PA said in a statement. The PA also clarified that the hotel planning application was not 'undelegated' on the request of the executive chairperson, but that it was the PA's planning com- mission which requested that this planning application is sent to the Planning Board for a decision. Planning CEO denies claims he 'defended' hotelier's planning application FAA accused Johann Buttigieg of using his Planning Board seat to defend developer Michaela Stivala's eight-storey hotel in Gzira Social media overtakes cards as purveyor of Festive greetings JAMES DEBONO A majority of people under 55 send their Christmas greetings through social media sites, mainly through Facebook, while only one in four send the more traditional card by post. This emerges from MaltaTo- day's Christmas survey which asked respondents how they send greetings to friends and relatives whom they do not see on a daily basis. It is only among over 55-year- olds that a majority sends a Christmas card to purvey festive greetings. While only a minority of 18 to 34-year-olds (23%) and 35 to 54-year-olds (26%) send Christ- mas cards, 52% of over 55 year olds still send cards by post. Overall 35% of all respondents polled in the MaltaToday sur- vey send Christmas cards by post compared to 38% who send fes- tive greetings through the social media. But not all those who send fes- tive greetings through the social media have given their back to tra- dition. The survey shows that 18% of those who use the social media to send greetings also send a card. Sending greetings by SMS is also more popular among younger re- spondents. Among 18 to 34-year- olds SMS greetings are as popular as cards. But over 55 year olds are more likely to send festive greetings by email than other age groups. The custom of sending Christ- mas cards was started in the United Kingdom in 1843 by Sir Henry Cole a civil servant who had the misfortune of having too many friends who send them let- ters conveying their Christmas greetings. To solve this problem Cole hit on an ingenious idea. He approached an artist friend, John Callcott Horsley, and asked him to design a triptych showing a fam- ily at table celebrating the holiday flanked by images of people help- ing the poor—and had a thou- sand copies made by a London printer. The image was printed on a piece of stiff cardboard. At the top of each was the saluta- tion, "To:_____" allowing Cole to personalize his responses, which included the generic greeting "A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year To You." How do you send your festive greetings to relatives and friends whom you do not see on a daily basis? All 18-34 35-54 55+ Social media 37.9 54.5 53.2 12.1 Card 34.5 22.7 25.9 51.5 Sms 14.7 22.7 18.2 7.6 Email 7.7 0 6.5 16.7 Telephone 8.1 2.1 6.5 15.2 Other 6.3 9.1 5.2 4.5 Totals do not add to 100 because some respondents send greetings through different media