Developers pay €3.6 million for failing to provide 2,000 parking spaces

Developers forked out a total €3.6 million in contributions for developments in St Julian’s and Sliema, after failing to provide 1,941 parking spaces between January 2013 and February 2019.

During the same period, a total of 855 permits issued in the two localities included a contribution to the Commuters Parking Provisions System – a fund run by the Planning Authority for contributions paid in lieu of parking spaces not being provided with new apartment developments.

While developers in Sliema paid €445,239 in lieu of the 213 parking spaces which they did not provide for, developers in St Julian’s paid €3,126,866 in lieu of the 1,728 parking spaces they did not provide for.

The information was provided by Planning Minister Ian Borg in reply to questions by Nationalist MP Karol Aquilina.

Most of the permits creating the parking shortfall were approved between 2016 and 2018: in these three years 273 such permits were approved in St Julian’s while 369 were approved in Sliema.

In 2018 the Planning Authority introduced a three-tier rate system whereby a one-car space not provided for would cost the developer €2,500.

From the third to the ninth car space not provided for on site, the developer has to make a contribution of €6,000 per car space. From the tenth car space upwards, a €10,000 contribution per car space is imposed.

While 70% of the generated fees are directed towards the locality-based Development Planning Fund, the remaining 30% are directed towards green transport proposals called the Island-wide Green Transport Fund (IGTF).

The new system replaced fees established in the 1990s, which differentiated between those localities which were part of the Commuters Parking Provisions System (CPPS) and those that were part of the Urban Improvement Fund (UIF) system.

A developer who did not provide parking on site within a CPPS area had to make a contribution of €2,096 per car space which was not provided for. Within those localities which were part of the UIF system, a developer was requested to pay €1,164.68 per car space.