Polidano Group applies for ODZ warehouse

Polidano Group has applied for the construction of a warehouse, offices and parking on 6,200 square metres of ODZ land in Qormi designated as an “area of containment (AOC). The application coincides with a major policy revision on how the PA assesses applications on AOCs.

The ‘Area of containment’ designation is applicable to 35 different zones which accommodate industrial or commercial related activities located outside development zones. 

The application foresees the development of a huge 6.8 metre high warehouse covering 1,900 square metres, or almost a third of the site. It also proposes a widening of the existing road, offices and a parking area of a site of over 6,160 square metres in Tal-Handaq.

The warehouse is in a 300-metre buffer zone to the ground water safeguard zone and is located between agricultural land and other warehouse developments. In 1998 the Malta Environment and Planning Authority refused a precast concrete plant in this area. Another application for the construction of warehouses has been in limbo since 2007.

The area was designated as an Area of Containment in the local plans approved in 2006. With regard to Tal-Handaq the local plan stipulates the need for “comprehensive schemes to upgrade the visual elements of these areas, which would include landscaping and other embellishment measures, as well as the provision of adequate common parking areas.” 

PA changes its policy on AOCs

Earlier this week the Planning Authority announced a major policy overhaul to exempt such sites from having planning parameters set in a review of the local plans.

At present, developments in AOCs are regulated by a document approved in 2012, which the PA now intends to scrap. The document categorised the AOCs into those which could be formally planned out through the Planning Control Application procedure, and those which had to await a Structure Plan Review. The idea was to avoid piecemeal applications in the absence of a master-plan for these areas. 

Thus development was mostly limited to the upgrading and the change of use of already developed sites. Development on other vacant sites depended on the prior approval of planning parameters by the PA. 

The document also proposed that AOCs should be considered for development, which cannot take place within development zones in any site selection exercise.

But last week the PA announced its intention of withdrawing the 2012 document and is proposing that master plans for development on areas of containment be formulated through an outline application presented by the developer rather than through amendments to the local plans.

The PA is now proposing a “context-driven approach within the framework of the SPED, the local plans and surrounding legal commitments”. 

The PA justifies its decision by claiming that at present the formal planning of the remaining AOCs can only be carried forward through the Local Plan Review process formulated by the Authority. 

“In view of the limited resources, this process cannot be initiated and these AOCs shall remain without a proper master plan for an extended period of time unless the alternative route of outline development permissions can be allowed”. 

Therefore, it is the Planning Authority’s intention to withdraw the document approved in 2012 to enable the option of adopting master plans for Areas of Containment through an alternative procedure to the Local Plan Review process.