Media Statements

21 Jun 2024

Organisations call on Prime Minister to change rotten planning appeals system

Joint Press Statement 21.06.2024 [MT version and picture below]   Organisations call on Prime Minister to change rotten planning appeals system   No sign of promised reform as planning increasingly becoming a developers’ fiefdom   14 organisations are denouncing the failure to reform the law regulating planning appeals, something which was promised by the Prime Minister in May last year, but never...

Read More
16 Feb 2024

DIN L-ART ĦELWA LAUNCHES RED TOWER MULTILINGUAL VIDEOS

  Din l-Art Ħelwa has launched self-guide videos to the Red Tower in Mellieħa in English, Maltese, Italian, Spanish, French and German. The 17th Century tower is the most visited site held under guardianship by DLĦ, with over 40,000 visitors in 2023, an impressive increase of over 29 per cent over the previous year. The site is run by warden James Evans...

Read More
27 Jun 2023

58th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION DINNER

Patron: His Excellency George Vella, President of Malta 58th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION DINNER 22nd June 2023 Dear Members and Friends,  Din l-Art Ħelwa is pleased to announce the relaunching of its traditional Anniversary Celebration Dinner after the lull enforced by the pandemic. As in previous years, the dinner will be held at the idyllic venue of San Anton Gardens, Attard. The date...

Read More
16 Aug 2019

Authorities dragging their feet over fuel stations

PRESS RELEASE Din l-Art Helwa notes that the saga on the fuel station relocation policy goes on, with the risk that yet more land outside development zone is lost to the unquenchable thirst for such facilities whilst a proper policy is being drawn up. The preparation of the update of the fuel stations policy was first announced in January 2018. Sixteen...

Read More
13 Aug 2019

Vernacular buildings need protection too

PRESS RELEASE Din l-Art Helwa congratulates the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage and the Planning Authority for the scheduling of ten further buildings of historic importance. We urge both the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage and the Planning Authority to further their efforts in a nationwide exercise for scheduling of the many historic properties which are as yet awaiting such a degree of...

Read More
04 Jul 2019

Crowdfunding Initiative to appeal against further development in Dwejra

PRESS RELEASE Din l-Art Helwa is most concerned about the recent decision to allow further development of a catering establishment at Dwejra on Gozo, which is a Natura 2000 site, a Dark Sky Heritage area, and also a Designated Special Protection Area under the Wild Birds Directive. Following the decision by the Environment and Planning...

Read More
13 May 2019

Undeclared plans of Cold War facility underneath St. George’s Barracks revealed – NGOs request Emergency Conservation Order

Joint NGO Press Statement 11/05/19   Following the Planning Authority’s approval of the db Group project in St. George’s Bay last year, three local councils, several NGOs and residents came together to appeal the decision.   Now plans and evidence have come to light showing the existence of an underground Cold War bunker created to house a sub-station in the 1950s,...

Read More
27 Apr 2019

Din l-Art Helwa condemns Burmarrad fuel station permit

Din l-Art Helwa Press Release 27 April 2019   Din l-Art Helwa condemns the decision by the Planning Board to grant a permit to a new petrol station in Burmarrad.  This decision is especially objectionable since the government has already accepted that the fuel stations policy is flawed and requires revision. The government has however failed to provide a sound and timely policy review on...

Read More
03 Jun 2018

Mixed Views on Maltese Heritage, by Petra Caruana Dingli

The temperature is rising at the Planning Authority. This week activists protested against the government policy to allow what appears to be an endless stream of new, large petrol stations in the countryside. This policy was introduced in 2015 and its disastrous consequences are now becoming tangible. The public objected loudly at a planning board meeting, calling on the authority...

Read More