Civil society activists urge ERA to appeal high-rise decisions

A group of civil society activists have called on the Environment and Resources Authority to appeal the recent planning approval of high-rise buildings in Sliema and Mriehel.

“The Planning Authority’s decisions were taken despite violations in policy, shortcomings in impact assessments and the lack of a masterplan on highrise development,” the activists said in a statement. “Civil society is closely watching ERA’s actions and expects it to put the environment before other considerations.”

ERA has told MaltaToday that it will not appeal the planning decisions, as “mitigation measures” were included as conditions in the permits.

They also called for the publication of all correspondence between ERA, its chairman Victor Axiak and the PA board related to their decisions on high-rise development in Mriehel and Sliema.

The activists who signed the petition are Monique Agius, Michael Briguglio, James Debono, Karl Camilleri, Henry-Franz Gauci, Martin Abela, Angele Deguara, Paul Portelli, Steven Bonello, Joe Pace, Albert Gatt, Luke Scicluna, Michael Piccinino, Daniel Desira, Erica Schembri, Colette Sciberras, Mark Anthony Sammut, and Michelle Grech

Axiak did not attend last week’s PA meeting “due to health reasons”, and the law prohibited ERA from sending a representative in its chairman’s stead. ERA’s presence on the board could have been a game-changer for the Townsquare skyscraper project in Sliema, which was only approved by one vote. Had ERA voted against the development, the vote would have been a tie, which would have placed the decision in the hands of PA chairman Vince Cassar, who had opposed the project.

When asked by MaltaToday, Axiak refused to declare how he would have voted if he had been present at the meeting.

“My views on the environment are well known and I have shared my views with both the ERA board and the PA board,” he said.

Ahead of the PA meeting, Axiak had sent a memo to board member Timothy Gambin, in which he expressed his views on the Mriehel and Sliema projects. While Gambin read out the part of the memo that dealt with Mriehel, no reference was made to his views on the Townsquare project.