150-year-old Sliema townhouse remains on death row

A developer hoping to convert a 19th-century Sliema townhouse into a six-storey apartment block was told by the Planning Authority today to revise his proposal. The plans to convert the Cathedral Street property had been recommended for refusal by the Planning Directorate. The Superintendence for Cultural Heritage had said the house, one of a row of well-preserved properties, should be retained and restored. But during a public hearing, the PA board opted not to vote on the proposal as is, instead voting to give the developer time to make the plans more acceptable, likely to be done by reducing the height. The proposal to give the developer more time was made by Matthew Pace, a government appointee, and passed by four votes to three. Only seven of the board's 13 members attended the hearing, which had to be delayed by nearly an hour because a quorum could not be reached. During the hearing, Sliema local councillor Paul Radmilli argued that the decision would seal the fate of the entire row of houses, which are within the Sliema Urban Conservation Area and were commissioned by the Mdina Cathedral between 1870 and 1886 for clergymen from renowned families. He noted that there were...