10 comments so far.Dismay at damage being done to a once unspoilt island
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Readers Letter – I have just read with great dismay that yet another development permit has been approved, this time adjacent to the beautiful Qala belvedere.
I have been visiting Gozo for almost forty years and during the past few years have become more and more despondent about the damage that is being done to this once unspoilt island. I am sure the majority of Gozitans are unhappy about the destruction of their heritage assets and the disappearance or ruin of wonderful views.
While I understand that Gozo cannot stand still and I appreciate the need for new buildings, I cannot fathom why more and yet more tourist accommodation is still going up when there are so many empty blocks of flats. I would have thought that Gozitans themselves, and particularly young people, are far more in need of low cost housing. Of course this is not an attractive proposition to any large scale developer with, apparently, the power to circumvent rules and regulations.
The opportunity for Gozo to be a true eco-island is disappearing rapidly. With more and more tourists seeking eco-friendly places a great chance will have been missed – to the detriment of the island itself and the Gozitans living there.
It saddens me greatly,
Susan Wadbrook
Sussex
England
Susan
I fully support what you are saying and also find it hard that construction and approval for more developments is being rubbered stamped when the lovely island of Gozo is littered with half built properties. I am well aware that you can purchase shells and this is where the problem lies or a get out with the on going construction. Tourism on the island is slow at the moment and if they carry on building there will be not alot of Gozo to see apart from new builds. Fuereventura, Cyprus, Majorca etc etc were all once lovely islands but looks like Gozo is going down the same road. Someone in power and can be heard needs to do something and fast.
Another foreign visitor who wants Gozo to standstill. The footprint of this development is on the site of an existing Bar and Restaurant. It could be said that this is a replacement for the derelict Mgarr Hotel.
True that the design will not win awards in my view but why not use one of the best views in Gozo.
The belvedere will NOT be touched and a big local boost is that pot-holed Triq iz-Zewwieqa will be surfaced. I do hope the plans include car parking for both residents and visitors.
If not I will oppose it.
Well written letter Susan Wadbrook thanks for your interest to save our lovely Gozo
Thanks also to John Proffitt-White as well
@Roy Perry
I am sorry to say but you seem to favour that Gozo be destroyed by building everywhere
Firstly you have been the front runner for the Gozo air strip this last several years
Now you are in favour to obstruct the view of all the gozitans and tourists that go there?
In your comment you said – (big local boost is that pot-holed Triq iz-Zewwieqa will be surfaced.) So the government is waiting for the Xerri`s to fix the road ?
The whole thing revolves around HOW COME LAST TIME MEPA WERE ALL AGAINST AND NOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED This time only very minor amendments were done .
Did you see the case officers report?
The best views in Gozo should remain for every Joe citizen and not for the few like you are agreeing too.
Did you even check that the Xerri`s had an enforcment notice since 1996 and this application SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN PROCESSED.
ROY IT SEEMS THAT YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE SUPPORTING THIS MONSTER AS I HAVE JUST LOOKED AT ALL THE COMMENTS THAT WERE WRITTEN ON VARIOUS NEWSPAPERS.
Well all I can say is that everyone has got the right for an opinion and it seems that on this one you are totally alone.
I have commented on this subject several times before, and I would like to repeat that this whole project is a disaster and the way that it has been handled by MEPA and the DCC is appalling – the whole board should be fired forthwith (preferably with no pension and a hefty fine!).
@Mr. Perry, I sincerely hope that you are not going to refer to me as an ‘another foreign visitor who wants Gozo to standstill’. Your name doesn’t exactly sound local either.
Judging by some of your comments, such as ‘It could be said that this is a replacement for the derelict Mgarr Hotel’, for example, makes me think that you have never even been to Gozo. Does this mean that you would like a belvedere full of derelict buildings as long as the road is acceptable? Do you like looking at the Mgarr hotel – do you never consider what tourists must think when they arrive in Gozo seeing this ghost building on one of the most spectacular locations on the island?
Unfortunately, it appears that MEPA and the powers that be have denied Gozitans their right to object to unsightly developments and they don’t need people like you to encourage other devious developers and contractors to push for illegal constructions.
I will refrain from commenting about your airport beliefs.
If you don’t like being isolated on this pot-holed island – leave it, but don’t try and destroy it further!!!!
Susan, I agree wtih you 100%. We cannot afford to keep losing beautiful areas in Gozo.
Mr. Perry, did you know that the Xerri’s restaurant is already built illegally so the permit should have NEVER been granted just for that reason only, let alone for the destruction of the area and spoiling the view from the belvedere.
Look at what happened to the Mgarr hotel, after ruining a beautiful area in Gozo with the excuse of creating jobs within a few short years it closed down and now they are working on turning it into apartments.
The same happened in chambray, alot of work was promised to the people of Ghajnsielem and I would like to ask how many people from Ghajnsielem Or Gozitans for that matter, work there?
Are we going to continue spoiling beautiful areas with the excuse of creating work and then in the end, it turns into another area of apartments (that’s where the big money is for the speculators)?
Carmenlina I agree totally with what you have said here and also with Lesley Kreupl, John Proffitt-White and swimmer. I’m afraid Roy Perry, great Gozitan name by the way, that you are out on your own again.
As you say Roy the footprint of this development is on the site of an existing Bar and Restaurant. What you fail to mention is that part of the existing building is illegal and Mepa’s own rules state that no permit can be considered let alone passed in such circumstances.
I have asked on several occasions for Mepa to explain this but they have yet to do so, probably because they can’t!
On a point of information.
I have lived and WORKED in Malta and Gozo for nearly 20 years.
Are any of the comments above from Gozitans?
In these critical financial times we should really have more constructive comments, after all, as I have said, from the road the proposal is only 6-10 courses higher than the existing building. It is not a new site like the one further down which was built without permission some 12 yeras ago.
I would like to see the facade changed to match that of the villas opposite.
You are missing the point again Roy. The structure as it stands is illegal. Mepa’s own rules preclude it from considering let alone approving an application on an illegal structure. Why have Mepa broken their own rules? Why can’t Mepa answer this simple question? Do Mepa purposely try to make themselves look corrupt?
The fact that something illegal was built 12 years ago does not mean it is right to build something illegal today. Thank God the country has moved on from the place it was 12 years ago Roy. You should appreciate the changes having lived through them.
Roy ,I am certainly gozitan but the reason that I personally do not give my name is because as you should know that whoever says things against the Gov even if they are for the better he will suffer and the rest of my family too.
Roy just to tell you for your info the building further down the road was built well over 25 years ago .( double the time that you have mentioned)
Secondly all his windows are sealed expect the top ones.
Thirdly he is still without water and electricity but he gets it from someone that if you ask over there you will soon find out .
Just see the artistic impression and you will see how wrong you are in your judgments.
I am sorry to tell you Roy it seems that again you are alone on this one
I shall join the others on the issue of transparency and legitimacy of MEPA’s decisions, as it is preposterous to allow development of an illegal building.
Moreover, it is not about bringing development of Gozo to standstill, Mr. Perry. It is about how Gozo needs to be developed so that a number of objectives are achieved at the same time: retaining natural beauty and sustainable, healthy environment, providing subsistence and comfortable life to its population and making it attractive to visit, among other things.
I also wonder if in the context of so many empty and unfinished buildings there should any new permits be granted at all for new buildings and extensions in such sensitive places – combined with clear, transparent planning policies and practices, appropriate taxation on vacant, abandoned properties and penalties for unfinished buildings, this would help to direct development towards reuse of existing resources.
What strikes me is that these rogue developments never resort to architects who’d be able to reconcile nature and architecture – any attempt to build something on the fringe of development zone turns to ugly, rogue intervention – an eyesore. Try to compare to so called Danish Village in Mellieha, designed by Prof. Hans Munk Hansen…