Apr 29 - Government Says GSD Did Not Take Action To Preserve Old Buildings When In Office
The Government has said that the difficult decisions faced by the DPC at practically every meeting are now taken in public and, rightly, are fully reported by the media. Number Six says that the coverage in the local press allows the DPC’s decisions to receive wider distribution adding that it is relevant to note that not so long ago, under the GSD administration, these decisions “were taken in secret, without any minutes being published.”
The Government says it has therefore succeeded in creating greater awareness and greater public debate about the planning process and this “can only be a positive development.”
It is therefore manifestly unfair, it argues, for the Opposition to dismiss in one phrase the revolution in planning that has taken place over the last three years. The Government says it is also “a bit rich” for the GSD to complain about decisions which, according to the party, result in the erosion of the old town.
The Government says it has provided this response because the main reason for this erosion is the fact that the previous administration did not take adequate action to preserve old buildings in the sixteen years that they were in office. According to Number Six, examples of the way in which the GSD cared for our heritage include their decision to demolish Rosia Tanks, a historic monument that had enabled the Royal Navy to maintain its fleet in the Mediterranean. Equally irresponsible, it argues, was the “wasteful way” in which they handled the “saga which resulted in the demolition of the Theatre Royal” or the “plight on our landscape which followed the construction of Clifftop House.”
The Government says the DPC has been faced with the dilemma on various occasions with buildings that found themselves in such a sorry state of disrepair and neglect that demolition was unfortunately the only viable option.
The problem at Police Barracks, says the Government, was a case in point adding that this was a Government-owned building that was “left to rot” by the previous administration. Number Six says that the Government put the site out to tender and a private developer has produced a scheme that will enhance the area. The scheme, it says, preserves the character of the original building but necessitates the demolition of Block E. The bulk of the arched facade in the complex is in fact being saved.
This demolition will also, according to the Government, open up the area through the creation of a small square at a pinch point in the Upper Town.
A statement released this afternoon concludes: “This Government intends to bring to life to parts of the Upper Town particularly in areas that were previously allowed to deteriorate. If the current Opposition had done their job properly when in office then many of the issues that they complain about today would simply not exist.”
{fcomment}
