‘Privacy’ wall threatens to kill Nadur’s belvedere views

Residents are sounding the alert in Nadur, where a 1.4 metre high wall is feared will not only ruin the view from Nadur belvedere, but that it will pave the way for the construction inside the adjacent green area.

On Thursday, the MEPA board will take a final decision on a 12.8 metre long wall along part of the Nadur belvedere instead of a railing to separate the public place from the applicant’s property right below the belvedere. 

Part of the green area below the belvedere belongs to Andrew Vella, who unsuccessfully applied to build two separate houses with a garage below the ridge.

MEPA’s case officer has recommended the board to approve the application, dismissing numerous objections by the Nadur local council and residents. 

Nadur mayor Edward Said told MaltaToday the council is opposed to the development because the wall will deprive the public from the view from the highest part of the Nadur ridge, and claimed is in breach of MEPA’s local plan.

The council has told MEPA that the wall breaches the Rural Policy and Design Guidance, which limits wall heights to 1.2 metres, and the Gozo and Comino Local Plan policies, which “seek to protect long-distance views.”

But Said adds that the key objection lays in the fact that the wall will not guarantee privacy – as the applicant claims – given that people can still view the neglected field below the belvedere from the side of the wall. “The applicant is arguing that the wall is necessary to guarantee privacy. However, the land is currently unused so there is no need for privacy and if anything, people can still view the field from the sides of the wall,” the mayor said. 

The construction of the wall, Said underlined, will deprive the public from scenic views, including the Gozo channel, which can currently be viewed from the belvedere.

The MEPA case officer justified the positive recommendation by pointing out that a court decision has allowed the construction of the 1.5m wall above Belvedere level, to delineate the property; and that the revised 1.4m height is the height normally allowed for a front garden boundary wall “so as to reduce the obstruction of views.”

The court decision of June 2004was decided in favour of the applicant to segregate his property from the belvedere area.

The case officer said that although the site is a green area, “the proposed wall respects the court sentence and has been re-designed to better reflect its context.”

But the Nadur council believes that once the wall is erected, this could lead to the construction of the property below the ridge.

In 2004, MEPA had already refused the construction of a house and garage right below the proposed wall. An identical application on an adjoining plot owned by Vella was also refused in 2003.

The 2004 refusal was recommended by the case officer because the site was a green area “as defined in the Temporary Provisions Scheme for Nadur and so it is located in an area which should be developed for recreational purposes.”

Echoing residents’ fears, mayor Said said that the wall would set a dangerous precedent. “What will become of the green area? MEPA must decide whether it wants to protect or destroy the belvedere.”