Staircase, ramp and bathing platform in latest Veċċa plans

A bathing platform, a staircase, and a ramp have been added to plans for the shoring up of the cliff-face at Għar Tal-Veċċa in St Paul’s Bay. 

The project includes a revetment composed of boulders to protect the friable cliff-face from further coastal erosion and prevent the collapse of Triq Stella Maris.

The new plans detailed in a visual impression presented by the Public Works Department a few days ago, show the inclusion of a bathing platform accessible through a staircase and a ramp for people with mobility issues. The platform will be located at the eastern edge of the new revetment structure. 

The construction of a rock revetment along the existing cliff-face at Għar Tal-Veċċa has been pending since 2022, when the first plans were presented. 

These plans were subsequently revised following objections from the Environment and Resources Authority, which warned against the obliteration of the cave. Revised plans were then submitted to protect the cave without covering it, proposing boulders in front of it. 

However, two sets of staircases that provided access to swimming platforms, which had been included in the first plans, were removed due to safety hazards. The architect cited the Wave Overtopping Manual, widely used in coastal engineering, which states that wave overtopping abatement structures should not be accessed by the public. 

Residents in the area had objected to these revised plans, as they would have rendered the cove inaccessible to swimmers. The spot is a popular swimming location. 

In a meeting held in September last year, the Planning Commission requested the Public Works Department to amend the drawings to retain the proposed access stairs to the swimming deck on the left-hand side of the coast and to obtain the consent of the Commission for the Rights of Persons with Disability, which had objected to the plans. 

A project statement presented in 2023 warned that wave action from north-eastern storms was damaging the existing infrastructure along this stretch of coastline. 

“The combination of friable rock formation and wave action poses a significant threat to buildings located near the coast, which are now at risk of toppling over due to the scour at the toe of the cliff,” the report stated. 

According to the same document, the cave is composed of very friable upper-coralline limestone. The attenuation of wave action by erecting the boulders would decrease the rate of erosion on the cave during severe storms, thereby increasing the safety of third-party properties and the road sitting directly over the cave—both of which are at risk of collapsing if the cave erodes further into the sea. 

Public safety concerns increased in 2016 when a nine-year-old girl was badly injured after being hit by falling rocks. The plans also follow a surge of construction activity in the area, including a permit issued in 2019 for the development of 24 dwelling units and two offices with underlying garages, constructed on seven levels above street level and three levels below. An application for a nine-storey hotel on an existing terrace overlooking the bay was withdrawn in February after ERA expressed concern related to the stability of the cave.