Din l-Art Helwa cries foul over ‘illegal works’ on Valletta Covered Market

The environmental NGO Din l-Art Helwa has said that unauthorised works appear to have been carried out on the Valletta Covered Market, a Grade 1 Scheduled building in the centre of Valletta.

The works, it said, consist of a cantilevered balcony which has been constructed “projecting onto Saint Paul Street”. The NGO said that the balcony severely impacts the “aesthetic and architectural values of the building” as well as the fine aesthetics of Saint Paul Street.

“Din l-Art Helwa is disappointed that such insensitivity was allowed to mar the project, which was a welcome and long overdue rehabilitation of the Valletta Covered Market. These works seem to have been carried out without Planning Authority authorisation,” it said.

According the Din l-Art Helwa, the non-executable decision notice regarding this permit was published on 8 February 2017 and as a result, no works can be executed under the permit (PA/03215/16) until a four-week appeals period has expired. It added that works on the balcony seem to have been conducted illegally, and probably even before the appeals period had commenced.

Moreover, the eNGO said that it was concerned by the what it referred to as "the piecemeal manner in which planning permission for the intervention has been sought".

“The project appears to be covered by two separate planning applications. PA/02370/15 was approved last year. In 2016, a new application was lodged for permission for a number of components of the same project. The period for representations by the public on this second application expired on 19 September 2016,” read a statement.  

“The drawings showing the projecting concrete balcony on Saint Paul Street were however only submitted in October 2016, after the public consultation period had expired, meaning that the proposal received much less scrutiny. To add insult to injury, it appears that works on this projecting concrete balcony were undertaken even before these works were authorised. Although works have taken place in full public view, no enforcement action appears to have been taken to date,” it added.   

The fact that the balcony has eliminated access at the ground floor level illustrates the lack of sensitivity and understanding of how the market interacted with the “fine aesthetics” of Saint Paul’s church which “was designed with gentle protruding mouldings to capture the shadows created by the sun when it permeates the street”, said the eNGO.

Din l-Art Helwa said that such manoeuvres are “making a mockery” of the planning process, and subvert the letter and the spirit of Malta’s planning legislation. Moreover, it called on developers to rectify the plans for this insensitive protrusion in “full respect of the buildings aesthetics”.