Lija mayor livid at MEPA

Lija mayor Ian Castaldi Paris has not yet not received a reply on whether The Malta Environment and Planning Authority will accept the proposed amendments to the Central Malta Local Plan, three years after these were presented to MEPA in publicised media event.

But a MEPA spokesperson insisted that the majority of the proposed changes will be addressed in an upcoming revision of MEPA policies.

On that occasion, MEPA chairman Austin Walker had publicly congratulated the Lija council for presenting a report proposing changes to the local plan.

"I fully welcome and endorse this positive initiative that the Lija Local Council has taken", Walker said when addressing the media in January 2009, in the presence of Castaldi Paris. 

The amendments drafted by planning experts - commissioned by the local council -were presented after the two-year restriction period to reassess the local plans has elapsed.

But for the past three years, Castaldi Paris has not received any definitive answer on whether the proposed changes will be enacted or not.

After a three-year wait, on 2 January, the Lija mayor send an email to MEPA chairman Austin Walker to inform him that he will no longer be calling at MEPA to check on the progress made with regards to the proposed changes.

"I will no longer chase for results through the email and phone channels as I got nowhere and was left without a concrete way forward... I will have to however explain to the public why this process was unfortunately stalled".

A spokesperson for MEPA confirmed that the Authority has held several meetings with the Lija mayor to discuss the proposals presented by the council's consultant.

According to MEPA, while the majority of the proposed changes will be addressed through the revision of the Development Control Policy and Design Guidance 2007 -which deal with matters such as height limitations - a significant number of proposals either had little to do with the Central Malta Local Plan or were requests over which MEPA had no control over, such as traffic management.

Castaldi Paris claims that he sent the email to Walker after realising that MEPA officials were just ignoring him.

"They were always telling me that something will be done when in fact it was just a good way to stop me from calling again".

The revisions to the local plan were presented after the Lija council had convinced MEPA to block a four-storey block next to the historical Belvedere which was permitted by the local plan but over-ruled by other regulations and policies.

"This case had made me realise that the local plan revision in 2006 was not done in a serious way and that it left much to be desired."

The Belvedere incident prompted the council to commence a wider public consultation to address other deficiencies in the local plan.

Castaldi Paris recalls that when the council presented its draft proposal to amend Lija local plans this was received with compliments from MEPA.

"The chairman himself congratulated our serious initiative and work and he promised us to review our proposal".

According to Castaldi Paris, the proposals were reviewed by MEPA officials led by Frans Mallia from MEPA Forward Planning Unit who proposed minor changes to the council's draft plan.

After the council adhered to the changes proposed by MEPA Castaldi Paris recalls that Frans Mallia and his team had promised him that the changes will be enacted in 6 months.

"This would have meant that for once, there would be a village in Malta that will have serious planning rules and regulations".

But in a meeting in 2010, Frans Mallia and MEPA Director of Planning Chris Borg informed the council that although the study presented by the council was a good one, Lija will be treated in the same manner as Sliema and some other localities.

"I was disgusted at such a U-turn."

Castaldi Paris immediately informed Austin Walker that something was wrong as the council was under the impression that the changes proposed for Lija will be treated on their own merits.

"I then started e mailing everyone concerned including chief executive Ian Stafrace who emailed me back stating that they were going to get back to us to finalise this matter".

But the council is still awaiting a reply.

The changes proposed by the local council could have an impact on property owners in Lija.

"I do understand that certain fine tunings proposed might not be advantageous to certain people who have got development purposes in mind but its my duty to do all that I can to ensure that Lija will always remain the jewel it is," Castaldi Paris told Maltatoday.

Castaldi Paris feels obliged to explain to Lija residents that the council is not at fault for the way the process was stalled.

"I am ready to mention names of who ever was involved in this process as it is the government's responsibility to see why things in this matter did not move forward especially when we as Lija residents discovered the shameful planning this locality was presented with".