PN MP says consultation needed for Mellieha Masterplan, wants application withdrawn
PN MP on Mellieha's district Robert Cutajar has insisted that a Planning Authority (PA) application filed by the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) to organise tables and chairs in Mellieha's main square must be withdrawn, and said that a wide process of
PN MP on Mellieha's district Robert Cutajar has insisted that a Planning Authority (PA) application filed by the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) to organise tables and chairs in Mellieha's main square must be withdrawn, and said that a wide process of consultation with all stakeholders is needed before such an application is submitted again.
The MTA's proposed Mellieha "masterplan" is to organise tables and chairs in Misraħ il-Parrocca, Mellieha's main square in the vicinity of the Parish church. The application also foresees "additional areas for tables and chairs" in the same square.
Cutajar penned a letter to MTA Chairman Gavin Gulia after he was approached by several residents and representatives of NGOs in Mellieha.
He asked Gulia to, in his capacity as MTA Chairman, withdraw the application he himself filed.
Moviment Graffitti and Mellieha residents had also objected to the application, saying that it is just a front to legalise the encroachments of tables and chairs in the square.
In the letter, Cutajar said that the application before the PA should be withdrawn immediately before it is processed, to allow for a wide process of consultation with all stakeholders, including Mellieha residents and the Local Council, before it is re-submitted, something which did not happen.
He also said that the Masterplan should include the Parish Square, Misrah iż-Żjara tal-Papa - which is a square adjacent and just a few metres away from the main one, and behind the Church.
"These three places are adjacent to each other, and relevant to one another," Cutajar said.
He explained that the MTA's excuse for not including the latter two into the masterplan for Mellieha's square is that the two areas adjacent are under the merit of the Land Authority and the Planning Authority.
"Is this not supposedly one government? The MTA, the Lands Authority and the PA are three government entities, and therefore, the MTA cannot shirk its responsibilities and shift the problems they themselves created onto these squares," Cutajar said.
Cutajar said that catering establishments found in the lower square (Misrah iż-Żjara tal-Papa) would also be under the MTA's remit, as it issues permits, so he could not understand why the whole square is not included in the masterplan.
"Government must shoulder responsibility and work in a serious and transparent manner. It must conduct a consultation process, and the main stakeholder - the Church, must not be absent," Cutajar said, explaining that the Church has not been involved in the masterplan, despite being in the same square.
He also said that the additional tables and chairs areas in the square's Masterplan would be added at the cost of existing parking areas.
Cutajar said that the Mellieha masterplan must include all the areas in the vicinity.
Back in 2021, Cutajar had asked a number of parliamentary questions about the Mellieha square project to Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo, back when the regeneration project was also under former Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg. Asked a parliamentary question on the parking areas in the square on 31 May 2021, Bartolo had replied that the project is expected to leave all present facilities in the square as is.
In a government press release dated 21 April, 2021, Borg and Bartolo announced the €1.8 million investment in the Parish Square.
In several parliamentary questions made to Bartolo on the matter, early in the same year (2021), Bartolo had said that the project was meant to start in the months after that summer.
Cutajar has recently made several Facebook posts highlighting the matter and calling for respect and transparency concerning the tables and chairs in the Mellieha square.
"I expect the (Tourism) Minister and the MTA to act with respect, obligation, and responsibility in this manner in the interest of the common good," Cutajar said.
Photo from Robert Cutajar’s Facebook page
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