Applicant shaves off one floor from Naxxar ODZ elderly home

A proposed old people’s home instead of a disused livestock farm building in Naxxar will have one-storey less, according to new plans.

The original planning permit for a four-storey building with 60 rooms was approved in 2023 but later revoked by the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal.

Now, fresh plans submitted by project proponent and Labour councillor Marlon Brincat envisage the removal of a receded floor. The change reduces the number of beds from 60 to 46 and the number of rooms from 47 to 40.

The building will now consist of a basement level and two overlying floors instead of three.

The old people’s home is being proposed in the countryside between Naxxar and Għargħur, in close vicinity to the Tal-Laqx windmill and the Semaphore Tower.

The permit issued in December 2023 was revoked by the tribunal last February. The permit had been approved despite objections from the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA), which had described the development as “unacceptable” and “visually intrusive”.

But the tribunal’s decision left a window open for Brincat by asking the  Planning Authority to reconsider the application from the stage preceding the case officer’s report. The report is where a recommendation is made on whether the development should be approved or not.

This gave Brincat the opportunity to revise the proposal by downscaling the project in a way that reduces its visual impact.

ERA still has to express a verdict on the downscaled plans.