Angry Slimizi file 1,381 objections to MEPA permits

MEPA statistics show a massive decline in the number of development applications validated over four years: from 6,008 in 2008 to 3,200 in 2012

Clearly exasperated over endless construction in a locality where 29% of the population is aged over 65, Sliema residents filed a total of 1,381 objections to planning applications over five years.

In the corresponding period, MEPA presented and validated a total of 852 development permits.

This means that 12% of all planning objections in Malta were filed in Sliema, which accounts for less than 4% of Malta's population.

This emerges from a MaltaToday analysis of statistics presented in parliament by the prime minister in response to a question by Nationalist MP Claudio Grech.

Sliema presented its highest number of objections, 775, in 2009. Sliema filed the most objections, 245, of all the Maltese localities in 2010 and the second highest, 179, in 2011.

Planning objections by locality  (2008-2013)
St Paul's Bay    1,230
Birkirkara    960
Mosta    888
Sliema     852
Naxxar    844
Qormi    807
Mellieha    801
Rabat    791
M'Scala    662
Valletta    641

Most planning objections by locality  (2008-2013)

Valletta    1,811
Sliema    1,381
Mellieha    957
San Giljan    822
Naxxar    724

Overall, Valletta objected most among the localities to planning applications, but the objections include a record number presented in 2008 (841) and 2009 (862) - against national projects like the St John's Co-Cathedral Foundation's museum extension and the City Gate projects spearheaded by Flimkien Ghall-Ambjent Ahjar. In fact, 1,523 of 1,811 objections were presented in 2008 and 2009.

On the other hand, in St Paul's Bay, where 1,230 applications were presented in the last five years, there were only 363 objections.

The residents of Mellieha filed a significant number of development objections in 2013 (351). In San Giljan in 2012, 593 objections were registered, most of which related to the proposed Spinola Square development. In Naxxar, objections peaked in 2010.

The statistics show that St Paul's Bay, which is Malta's fastest growing locality according to the latest census, development permits have continued at a higher rate than in larger localities, like Birkirkara and Mosta. The population in St Paul's Bay has grown by 23% since the 2005 census, making it the third most populated locality in Malta, behind only Birkirkara and Mosta.

This suggests that St Paul's Bay was still growing despite the lull in construction in the past five years. Naxxar and Sliema continue to see more development applications than larger and more populous localities like Qormi, Zabbar and Zejtun.

Construction is also rampant in Swieqi and Attard, where more than 1,000 new applications have been validated in the past five years.

The statistics show a massive decline in the number of development applications validated over four years: from 6,008 in 2008 to 3,200 in 2012. The major dip in new applications occurred between 2010 and 2011, when the number fell from 5,300 to 2,748. Despite the crisis 24,310 applications were presented between 2008 and 2013.

In a sign that the construction industry is responding to the new government's stimulus, which comes in the form of a reduction of planning fees, the number of planning applications between April and June 2013 was 20% higher than during the same period in 2012 and 25% higher than in 2011. Between 9 April and 17 June, the Authority validated 741 applications, 128 more than in 2012.