Santa Lucija council voted for ODZ residential home

The Labour-led Santa Lucija local council has given its blessing to a proposed complex for the ‘elderly’ on land outside development zones (ODZ) after the Planning Authority asked it to send its submissions on the matter by 29 June. 

Environmental NGO  Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar has recently called on the authorities  to declare the  Wied Garnaw valleys as public.

The five-storey home for the elderly is being proposed near the Santa Lucija secondary school.

A vote was taken on Monday last week during which the three PL councillors, including the mayor, voted in favour while the two PN councillors voted against the proposed development.

A decision on the proposed development still has to be taken by the Planning Authority.

The neighbouring Labour-led Luqa council had already declared its opposition to this development last year.

The three Labour councillors voting in favour of the development qualified their vote, insisting that they would not agree with any other development taking place in the area.

Councillor and former mayor Frederick Cutajar insisted that the site in question is in an area known as Bir Miftuh, which is adjacent to but not part of the area known as Wied Garnaw.  

Cutajar also said he deems the development acceptable as the site is next to a main road and not in the middle of the valley. 

During the meeting minority leader Liam Sciberras who together with Caroline Galea voted against the development, referred to the fact that Malta has 55,000 vacant premises and that Malta is the most over-developed country in Europe. “We cannot continue developing what remains as undeveloped”.

While insisting that he is not against the idea of a new retirement home the location on ODZ land could set an urban sprawl in the countryside.

He also questioned the benefits of an old people’s home located on the periphery of the town, thus cutting off the elderly from the centre of the locality.

Sciberras warned that this development could result in ecological degradation of the nearby Garnaw valley and will result in more parking problems for the surrounding residential homes. He also questioned why a site within the development zone was not found to accommodate the development.

A report, which concluded that no alternative site was found in the urban area, was submitted to MEPA in October 2015.

The report included a screening for sites based on environmental and planning considerations and a financial Cost Benefit Analysis undertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers. 

A project development statement submitted to the PA acknowledges the visual impact of the proposed development, which will “be visible from various places” since it will be located “at the highest point of the Santa Lucija area”. It is also likely to be visible in the long distance views from the south, where there is a drop in level to Wied Garnaw. The newly set-up Environment and Resources Authority is objecting to a proposed four storey old people’s home in an ODZ area in the vicinity of the Santa Lucija state school.

The ERA informed Healthmark Care Services that it is objecting to the proposal “since it would result in urban sprawl and land take-up at the expense of undeveloped rural land”. 

The developers were also informed that if they intended to proceed with the project they would have to prepare a full Environmental Impact Statement.