Letters • December 14 2003

MEPA and the Victoria Lines

Sylvana Debono
PRO MEPA
Floriana
I refer to your articles published on the 23rd November 2003 and 7th December 2003, and would like to make the following points.
The two speakers for the NGO’s as quoted in your paper impute that the granting of the building permit is tantamount to sanctioning the demolition of the Victoria Lines. MEPA scheduled the Victoria Lines as a Grade 1 national monument with a buffer zone, and as an Area of High Landscape Value as per Government Notice Number 85/01 dated 23 January 2001. The wall in question is within the buffer zone of over 100 meters and therefore afforded automatic protection. MEPA has never issued permits for the demolition of the Victoria Lines. In the pertinent case the permit conditioned the applicant to restore the wall and not to demolish it. Any demolition or theft of stones from the Victoria Lines is an illicit act.
Additionally, the scheduling of the Victoria Lines includes a buffer zone of over a hundred meters and not a meager ten meters as suggested by the NGOs. Given the densely developed character of Malta this buffer zone extends over already developed areas or sites within a development scheme. The buffer zone ensures that development proposals within schemes create the least impact on the heritage assets, and where possible heritage gains are requested for the eventual restoration of the Victoria Lines. In areas outside development schemes the buffer zone ensures that development is restricted to acceptable agricultural purposes and still controls any impacts on the heritage assets. Therefore, one has to remember that the MEPA is obliged by law to consider development applications within the approved schemes.
The article raises the issue of the fortified wall, which connects Fort Madliena to the Victoria Lines. This wall was not initially identified as part of the Victoria Lines as studies concentrated on the forts and the main line of the defensive system. Nonetheless, once the wall was assessed by heritage experts it was confirmed as being part of the intricate system of the Victoria Lines. In October 2000 part of the wall in question was dismantled and the stones taken away by someone who is not the present owner of the site. Immediately, the MEPA issued an enforcement notice against the owner who purchased the property from the Lands Department. In the mean time the site was resold twice. MEPA officials managed to trace the location of the original stones and retrieved them for the eventual restoration of the wall in question with the assistance of the present owner of the site.
MEPA ensures that what survives of the Victoria Lines, including any ancillary features, is protected both legally and physically. On the other hand, MEPA is also obliged to provide for development requirements according to the Development Planning Act and development schemes approved by Parliament in 1988. In this particular case, once the heritage value of the wall in question was established, MEPA guaranteed the conservation and restoration of the same wall, while it honored the proposal for development as long as this took place within the approved development scheme, and provided that no damage is caused to the historic features. The pertinent wall flanks one side of the property destined for development, and curves slightly into the site. The design of the development is such that the wall is conserved and development takes place where there are no heritage assets. Through positive intervention the MEPA together with the applicant and the architect agreed on a strategy for the eventual re-construction of the dismantled parts of the historic wall using the retrieved stolen original masonry, and for the restoration of other parts of the wall which collapsed due to decay and neglect. The applicant was also charged a bank guarantee of Lm15, 000 to ensure compliance with permit conditions for MEPA officials to monitor the construction and the restoration works, thus ensuring that the historic wall is safeguarded. It was also agreed that any engineering works should take place before the restoration commences to prevent damage to the newly restored wall. Subsequently, the restoration of the wall should take place according to an approved restoration method statement. The Lm15, 000 bank guarantee is released only on completion of the restoration of the wall to the satisfaction of the MEPA and heritage experts it consults. This is still the case and MEPA is carrying out spot inspections several times a week to ensure compliance. Works were stopped last Friday as soon as MEPA received information that excavation works were being carried out. MEPA officials had been on site only the day before. Work on the site has been halted pending further supervision and both the architect and the owner have been notified.
Finally, it was only through the MEPA's initiative and outreach that a number of heritage gains were obtained from developers for the restoration of parts of the Victoria Lines. It was also the MEPA who created opportunities for the active participation of the NGOs in the restoration programmes of the Victoria Lines. Such initiatives should be given due recognition.