Action for Housing have issued a statement questioning the regeneration of Road to the Lines that was announced back in 2019.

A statement from Action for Housing follows below:

It is now two years since the Government announced a very ambitious urban regeneration project at Road to the Lines which was going to yield 100 flats for rental and a number of commercial units.

At the time we welcomed the announcement albeit with certain reservations and said that we preferred Government to develop the site and provide much needed Government housing for rental.

Two years have passed, and as far as we know, nothing of significance has happened to start the project and the dilapidation of the whole area gets worse with the passage of time.

In March 1998, the then Chief Minister, Sir Peter Caruana, announced a major urban regeneration programme of the upper town. He said the intention was to restore the physical fabric of the old town for the benefit of the people who live there. He further said that he wanted to implement a scheme to recover parts of the old town and, besides the housing element, also as a place of interest for visitors and even as a tourist asset. To conclude he said it was time to stop the rot.

Unfortunately, this beautiful vision did not come to fruition and over two decades later the rot has not been stopped. Neither the previous administration nor the present one have transformed the old town into a respectable living and commercial hub.

Whereas in any city or town worth its salt the old towns are well preserved and are tourist attractions, here our old town is rundown and dilapidated and an eyesore for locals and tourists alike.

We think it is time that the rot was stopped once and for all. We acknowledge the fact that some projects have helped to regenerate badly neglected areas. The conversion of the old St Bernard’s Hospital into schools and a care home, the private development of the old Police Barracks, the beautification of Castle Street, although not completed, and the regeneration of Calpe Barracks come to mind. However, the overall pace of the upper town regeneration programme is too slow. We need a more ambitious and well planned holistic one that will yield results in a much shorter period of time.

The old town holds the potential to be developed in such a way as to provide homes for rental, both for Government and for the private sector, but the question is whether the present administration, or any future one, can deliver on this. This could be tested on whether the Road to the Lines project becomes a reality or not.