GSD calls on Govt to review Eastside housing development

The GSD has called on the Government to review its plans for the Hassans Centenary Terraces development, insisting that the Eastside project has the potential to become a “generational blot on our landscape”.

This comes after the Development and Planning Commission roundly criticised the project and the GSD said its concerns were “merited”.

In a statement the GSD said affordable housing is necessary but called on the Government to go back to the drawing board and review the aesthetic impact of the housing development.

“At the moment the high density development is planned over a series of massive towers some of which will be around 30 storeys high,” the statement read.

“The towers themselves will make a massive impact on the skyline and can only dramatically change that part of Gibraltar forever encouraging other developers to build high and affect the view of the north face of the Rock,” it added.

"We are still in time and Government should overhaul its plans to deliver housing in a more sensitive and sustainable way," GSD Leader Keith Azopardi said.

The party added that the pace and manner of recent development seems unbridled and it is difficult to argue for better controls of density and aesthetics from the private sector when Government itself is promoting a scheme like this.