Transport Malta objects to Lapsi restaurant slipway tables

Transport Malta has objected the regularisation of a Carmen’s Bar platform for two restaurant tables erected on a public slipway at Għar Lapsi, insisting it remain unobstructed at all times.

The Superintendence for Cultural Heritage is also objecting to the replacement of the “unauthorised umbrella” already present on site with a “more permanent and unsightly aluminium structure and glass railings”, while the Environment and Resources Authority insisted it will not condone chairs and tables covering a public open space.

The PA has already issued an enforcement order against the change-of-use of part of the slipway to accommodate the placing of tables.

Concurrently, the ERA is objecting to a TM proposak to fill an existing cavity on the Għar Lapsi coastline with concrete. Ironically in 2016 the PA had rejected an application by Carmen’s Bar to cover the same cavity with a platform for chairs and tables.

The ‘concrete decking’ and repairs of a damaged masonry structure are being proposed “to protect the side of the slipway from further sea erosion”.