A group of environmental NGOs have charged the developers of the Villa Bonici site of having violated a number of MEPA policies in their plans for a 23-block apartment complex.
Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, BirdLife Malta, Friends of the Earth (Malta), Greenhouse, Nature Trust Malta and the Ramblers Association said the Malta Environment and Planning Authority should reject the project.
The proposed development in Manwel Dimech Street in Sliema includes the construction of a residential complex of up to 23 blocks, some as high as 12 floors, in the villa’s gardens which stretch almost all the way down to the Sliema Strand.
“Besides the impact on the heritage building, the beautiful trees which are more than 50 years old, and on the many wild birds and species that use this green oasis, we are concerned about the increased air pollution which will have negative impact on the local residents,” spokesperson Astrid Vella said yesterday.
“The addition of hundreds of flats and cars in an area which is already registering air pollution readings well in excess of EU thresholds is bound to aggravate health problems, as research has shown that vehicle emissions contribute to lung, heart and cancer problems.”
The NGOs pointed out that, according to the local plan for the area, all the gardens of Villa Bonici are excluded from the Urban Conservation Area. “This obviously facilitates development on this site and is highly irregular as the change was effected without any public consultation whatsoever, in contravention of the Development Planning Act and the Aarhus Convention.”
The NGOs said Sliema is mentioned in the local plan as an over-populated region “suffering from a lack of recreational space, infiltration of traffic, noise and other effects resulting from tourism development, commercial intensification and high housing densities’ and as an area which ‘cannot comfortably accommodate further development.”
“In Sliema 25% of all dwellings are completely vacant,” the NGOs said. “Furthermore the NHLP states that development congestion should be reduced to promote environmental improvements in urban area and that emphasis will be on new housing through rehabilitation and selective redevelopment rather than through extensive building, height relaxation or re-designation of open space”.
They said the plan states that further development in Sliema would “exceed environmental capacity through further noise, traffic, overshadowing, sense of enclosure and degradation of the public realm”
Vella said that Sliema’s road network, water and electricity supply and sewers are already beyond their capability of supplying satisfactorily.
“More mega-projects will again make matters worse. Sliema has a serious problem of air pollution and an acute lack of green public open spaces. Since Villa Bonici is Sliema’s only surviving urban lung, the NGOs request the scheduling of the Villa and its gardens as a historic Sliema landmark and call for a project that will respect the value of the site as well as the local plan’s policies for Sliema.”
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