Limestone 'box' taints quaint Sliema street

An uninspired, cube-like room built on top of a row of uniform Sliema townhouses in Rudolph Street has sparked calls for the planning authority to start insisting on photo montages as part of the application process. Photos of the corner house extension have been shared online by incredulous passers-by complaining that the streetscape has been ruined. It turns out that the development was approved by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority last October, according to Flimkien Għal-Ambjent Aħjar coordinator Astrid Vella. “Unbelievable as it may seem, this eyesore that ruins the whole untouched streetscape was approved by all four members of the Mepa Environment and Planning Commission board in 2012 in defiance of Mepa’s Heritage Advisory Committee’s outright refusal,” she said. “The height limitation for this urban conservation area is two floors, yet the Mepa board unbelievably argued that it was ‘visually acceptable since it will not detract from the architectural homogeneity of the building’.” Ms Vella said the board latched on to one technical justification despite the fact that the application violated a great number of urban conservation area regulations. “This proves...