FAA accuses Superintendence of Cultural Heritage of failing heritage and applying double standards

Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar (FAA) yesterday expressed alarm at the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage’s consent for a proposed development along the Wignacourt Aqueduct in Attard, which heritage experts have warned will harm the Grade 1 scheduled monument.

The application for the construction of four villas covers a site flanked between the 17th century Wignacourt Aqueduct on one side and the late nineteenth century railway embankment on the other.

The development would require the construction of a new road along the Grade 1 scheduled Wignacourt Aqueduct for access to two of the proposed villas.

This new road, FAA pointed out yesterday, would compromise the Grade 1 scheduled monument since it would have to be constructed at least two metres above the aqueduct’s ground level. This would effectively bury the Grade 1 monument along a two-metre-deep, trench-like ditch.

The cultural superintendence claims it has no objection to the trench-like proposal, as it would be set back from the scheduled monument; however, FAA observed that heritage experts have warned that this entrenchment could create conditions that further aggravate its degradation.

FAA said it “maintains that as a Grade 1 scheduled monument, the Wignacourt Aqueduct should be protected in its entirety and in its context. Through this application, the historical structure will be buried, out of sight and out of mind. Its visual integrity would be completely compromised, lost beneath two roads, under an eventual build-up of gravel and soil.

“The superintendence acceptance of the proposal came as a surprise given its outrage at the Central Link Project, which is expected to have a negative impact on the same aqueduct they’re failing to protect through their consent to this application.”

The Planning Commission is to decide on the Grade 1 scheduled monument tomorrow.