Valletta café owner takes issue to the court

The owner of a Valletta café overlooking Grand Harbour is determined to save his business by resorting to court to prove that a stone structure, ostensibly built on the grounds occupied by his outlet, was “never there in the first place”. Café Deux Baronnes owner Martin Baron yesterday said he will take the issue to court after a Planning Appeals Board partially threw out his appeal following a development permit granted to heritage NGO Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna to rebuild a room it said once served as the Master Gunner’s quarters. The structure was destroyed by wartime bombing. The small one-storey room is the final piece in a multi-million restoration project incorporating the Saluting Battery and the underground Lascaris War Rooms. All the areas will be linked, creating a multi-period heritage park spanning 400 years of history. The planning tribunal gave FWA 30 days to amend and revise the plans for the building to reflect the structure as marked in a particular map kept at the Museum Department. But despite losing the appeal, Mr Baron said he was far from defeated on the issue and will be taking the matter to court to prove that the planning authority and its appeals board had...