Townsquare calls on FAA to cease public deception campaign

In a statement issued on Sunday, Townsquare has called on the FAA to immediately cease its campaign to deliberately deceive the public over its development in Sliema.

In the latest of a series of misleading statements aimed at distorting an ongoing appeal process, the FAA has alleged that the Townsquare development will provide “barely half” of what is required by the Planning Authority’s FAR (floor to area tall buildings) policy.

A spokesman for Townsquare said: “This is totally incorrect. As we have already stated, Townsquare will comprise over 7,000 square metres of open space (on a footprint of 12,000 square metres) that will be fully accessible to the public.

“This area is equivalent in size to the town’s Independence Gardens and the developers are committing themselves to maintain it indefinitely.

“Among other things, FAA has failed to take into account the open spaces created by the 10-metre-wide pedestrianised streets and has made incorrect reference to the PA design guidelines issued in 2015 to suit its own purposes in the interpretation of FAR policy provisions.”

Townsquare submitted all the necessary documentation, including the estimated requirement of open spaces, to the Planning Authority – which endorsed the estimates in line with the requirements of the FAR policy that the PA itself had approved.

Moreover, this documentation was made public during the prior consultation period and there was not a single objection to the open spaces estimate except on the day of the Planning Authority Board hearing that approved the project in 2016.

Townsquare, which has followed all planning procedures to the letter, regrets that it is having to contend with a smear campaign that seeks to serve no other purpose than to undermine the legitimate appeal process.