Valletta al fresco: nearly 70 ‘dining areas’ approved since 2016

The Planning Authority issued 67 permits for Valletta catering establishments to place tables and chairs out for al fresco dining since 2016, a MaltaToday probe of permits shows.

The largest number of permits was issued in 2017, when a record 23 requests were permitted.

Since 2016, the PA has received 84 applications for the placing of outdoors chairs and tables, compared to just 38 between 1994 and 2016.

The probe is limited to applications for the placing of ‘tables and chairs’ and excludes other terminology that could be used in the request for permits. It may also include changes to permits of establishments which already had outside dining platforms or the sanctioning of similar dining areas.

The increase in the number of applications and approvals came in the wake of the 2015 policy allowing restaurants to set up platforms on kerb-sides, in a way that pavements are not directly obstructed by chairs and tables.

The policy increased restaurant covers and created a more uniform regulatory process instead of the more discretionary regime prevailing before 2015.

But while al fresco dining contributed to a livelier atmosphere in a capital city that until a few years ago was still seen as a ghost town at night, the expansion of platforms in Valletta’s residential areas has angered residents who must bear noise and clutter and the loss of parking spaces.

Over the past week the Valletta local council protested the issue of a permit for a 44sq.m platform for 16 tables outside the AX group’s Rosselli hotel. The platform is exceptionally large even by the standard set by other platforms approved in the past years.

The application was presented by Denise Micallef Xuereb, a vice-president of the Malta Developers Association, but it was also endorsed by the Lands Authority and Transport Malta and approved on 6 August. It was erected before the expiry of the mandatory 30-day period between the decision and the issue of the permit, meant to give any objector the chance to appeal.  The decision was still posted on 1 September – a day after the platform was erected.

The case officer had recommended approval because the tables and chairs platform conformed to the policy regulating outdoor catering areas: it restricts such areas to one-third of the road’s width in pedestrianised areas like Merchants’ Street.

The street is approximately 10.5m, while the Rosselli platform is 3.8m, a minimal deviation of 30cm... the platform even had the blessing of the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage which presented no objection at planning process.

The platform will result in a shortfall of four car parking spaces that must be compensated to the tune of €4,192 for each space lost, deposited to the PA’s community parking scheme.

Applications submitted for chairs and tables in Valletta