Case Studies  A Regeneration Strategy for Valletta. Il-Biccerija Case Study

Partnership Approach

Another possible approach could be that of setting up a partnership between the Valletta Rehabilitation Project (representing the central government) and the Valletta Local Council, with the possibility of a Heritage Trust joining in as another partner, thus obtaining a partnership between the central and local government, and the private sector through the Heritage Trust. A preliminary survey of the existing situation of Valletta, will always need to be drawn up first. A plan of action needs then to be formulated, wherein the Valletta Rehabilitation Project would be responsible for restoring and rehabilitating public buildings; the Local Council would be responsible for public open spaces, and the Heritage Trust would give financial grant aids for interventions by private owners. The plan of action would be open for public consultation, and any suggestions and comments raised by the public would be catered for.

The advantage of such an approach is mainly that everyone would feel part of the rehabilitation project, which is not the case if the whole project is accomplished by the Central Government. Another advantage would be that funding does not rely only on central government. The main deficiency of this project is that, locally, the role of a heritage trust has been conceived as that of a pressure group, and not that of a fund-raiser and executor of conservation projects. It is only recently that one of the local trusts has taken such a role. Another problem is that one needs to solve the potential overlaps of jurisdiction there is between the Valletta Rehabilitation Project and the Valletta Local Council, since in the past these have had serious implications on joint approaches. The other problem is that the Valletta Local Council still depends on Central Government funds, and with the current legislation, the Local Council cannot raise funds. Therefore both the Local Council and Valletta Rehabilitation Project depend directly on the central government's budget.

State Funded Approach    Nodes Approach