The pedestrian zone of Mosta Square is being reconsidered, the mayor said.

The new mayor confirmed that the local council is reconsidering plans to pedestrianise part of Mosta Square after receiving a series of complaints from residents and businesses in the area.

The City Council will meet on Tuesday to make a tentative decision on whether to proceed with partially pedestrianizing the square — which is currently closed to traffic on Saturday nights and Sundays.

Mayor Joseph Gatt said a final decision will be made in October after consultation with residents and businesses.

“The city council will make decisions based on the best interests of the local area, which may mean changing previous decisions. We will first listen to the opinions of residents and businesses in all areas of Mostar,” Gat said in an interview.

The issue was raised in a Facebook post by Jason Micallef, chairman of the Valletta Culture Bureau, who criticised the local council’s decision to abandon some of the bookings that began earlier this year.

The local council had posted a Facebook post earlier this month informing residents of Tuesday’s meeting.

Residents have mixed opinions on this

The square is closed on weekends Earlier this yearResidents are divided over whether the square should remain a pedestrian mall.

Some appreciated the move, with one resident writing: “Keep it closed. People get a chance to walk around the square without the smoke and traffic noise.”

Another commented: “The children were totally unafraid of the cars as they played. It was an amazing sight.”

One resident warned: “If you reopen the square to traffic then as a council you will be taking a step backwards and repeating the mistakes made by the government – ​​not prioritising open space and not considering environmental considerations.”

But others want the square back to its original state because they believe its closure will increase traffic.

“(You) were 20 metres away from us, forcing people to circle Mosta for 20 minutes,” one man said.

Another thought the square “needs to remain open because it causes traffic congestion.”

“It’s best to just turn it off when there’s activity,” he advises.

The pedestrianised streets are part of the ‘Slow Streets’ project, which aims to regularly close parts of Malta’s streets to vehicles and reroute traffic.

Mosta is one of more than 40 localities taking part in the project, which is a collaboration between the Ministry of Transport and Local Government, Transport Malta and the Association of Local Councils.

architect Antoine ZammitHe designed the square with the Studjurban team and told Times of Malta With improved infrastructure around Mosta, most traffic can be directed away from the square without causing congestion or inconvenience to residents, while returning the area in front of the iconic rotunda to the people.