Heritage watchdog objecting to multi-storey Valletta car park

The Superintendence for Cultural Heritage is objecting to the creation of a three-storey car park in the St Andrew's tenaille, the ditch beneath the City Gate entrance that formerly formed part of the Yellow Garage.

The application was published back in July, proposing the reorganisation of parking in the Valletta land-front ditch and the installation of a reversible, three-level parking area in St Andrew's ditch.

The project will provide pedestrian access from the ditches to South Street, but this will involve rock-cutting in the sally port tunnel to facilitate access to the city from the ditches.

The little-known sally port hidden deep in the Valletta ditch is located at the foot of the St Michael counter-guard, halfway along the ditch from which Marsamxett leads to the area below City Gate.

A city in motion: the old railway track beneath City Gate, which was later converted into a garage.

But the Superintendence - the official body that promotes best practice in conservation of buildings and sites - has declared that the proposed cark park and the rock-cutting of the sally port are "inappropriate" as these would impact on the "legibility and value" of the fortification.

In its correspondence with MEPA, the Superintendence reminded the authority of Valletta's "outstanding universal value" as outlined in the UNESCO operational guidelines, and called on MEPA to refuse the application.

The superintendence sent its objections in writing last week.

The Heritage Advisory Committee, which is MEPA's own internal heritage watchdog, has joined the chorus of disapproval, itself objecting to the building of the multi-storey car park between St Andrew's tenaille and St Andrew's bastion. "This development should not take place, especially after the area was recently cleaned and rid of a car wash," the HAC said.

The committee recommended that all parking should be limited to surface parking.

No rock excavation will take place to construct the car park. Trial pits showed that no bedrock can be found at a depth of four metres, which is the maximum depth of the proposed development.

Valletta has a number of sally ports, formerly used to facilitate the transport of weapons. The €1 million project to cut through the sally port was made possible after an illegal structure that had blocked the area of the sally port was removed. The tunnel will see two travellators installed, going in opposite directions.