– Violation of policies and of residents’ health
The environmental NGOs, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, BirdLife Malta, Friends of the Earth Malta, Gaia Foundation, Greenhouse, NatureTrust Malta and the Ramblers Association of Malta draw attention to the fact that the proposed development proposals for Villa Bonici in Sliema violates a number of MEPA policies and therefore should be rejected.

The proposed development in Manwel Dimech Street in Sliema includes the construction of a residential complex of up to 23 blocks, some as high as 12 floors, in the villa’s gardens which stretch almost all the way down  to the Sliema Strand.
Besides the impact on the heritage building, on the beautiful trees which are more than 50 years old, and on the many wild birds and other species that use this green oasis, the NGOs are also concerned about the increased air pollution which will have negative impact on the local residents. The addition of hundreds of flats and cars in an area which is already registering air pollution readings well in excess of EU thresholds is bound to aggravate health problems, as research has shown that vehicle emissions contribute to lung, heart and cancer problems.
The NGOs also highlight the fact that in the ratified 2006 Local Plan all the gardens of Villa Bonici have been excluded from the Urban Conservation Area. This obviously facilitates development on this site and is highly irregular as the change was effected without any public consultation whatsoever, in contravention of the Development Planning Act and the Aarhus Convention, so the NGOs maintain that the Urban Conservation conditions listed below should still apply.
MEPA policy UCO 13 reads: “Wherever possible, by control or positive intervention, buildings of architectural, historical, and townscape importance, gardens, and other areas of architectural or historical interest will be conserved.” This is repeated in policy UCO 13.
Scrutiny of the North Harbours Local Plan (NHLP) has confirmed that the application does not conform to the provisions of the Local Plan in terms of the proposed end-use, destruction of trees urban open space and urban congestion.
In the Local Plan Sliema is mentioned as an over-populated region “suffering from a lack of recreational space, infiltration of traffic, noise and other effects resulting from tourism development, commercial intensification and high housing densities’ and as an area which ‘cannot comfortably accommodate further development”.  In Sliema “25% of all dwellings … are completely vacant.”
Furthermore the NHLP states that development congestion should be reduced to “promote environmental improvements in urban area”, adding that “in the congested areas of … Sliema … the emphasis will be on new housing through rehabilitation and selective redevelopment rather than through extensive building, height relaxation or re-designation of open space”. “In … Sliema … further development would exceed environmental capacity through further noise, traffic, overshadowing, sense of enclosure and degradation of the public realm”
Sliema’s road network, water and electricity supply and sewers are already beyond their capability of supplying satisfactorily.  More mega-projects will again make matters worse.

Sliema has a serious problem of air pollution and an acute lack of green public open spaces. Since Villa Bonici is Sliema’s only surviving urban lung therefore the NGOs request the scheduling of the Villa and its gardens as a historic Sliema landmark and call for a project that will respect the value of the site as well as the Local Plan’s policies for Sliema.