In a statement today, FAA said “it is dismayed to learn of the granting of a permit to build a store and religious education room attached to Richard England’s Manikata church, a landmark building in Maltese architectural history.”

FAA said that “this week it followed an application to install telecommunications equipment (ie. mobile telephony masts) on the beautiful, historic Mhtaleb church. Should our architects not know better than to submit an application that would negatively impact such a gem?”

FAA continued, “while it notes that the application on Mtahleb church was refused by MEPA’s EPC board it cannot understand how the application on Manikata was approved. Why has this church not been scheduled? Why was the Cultural Heritage Advisory board not involved? The Natural and Cultural Heritage boards are increasingly being left out of the very cases where their input is critical – is this a damaging new trend?”

“There is no doubt that MEPA Reform has produced some very positive results, so why are such vandalistic ones still being issued? Is it a case of two steps forward and one step back?” FAA concluded.

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