ERA objects to Naxxar ODZ home despite floor removal

The environment authority is objecting to an elderly care home in rural Naxxar, warning the development would still have a significant visual impact despite having a floor less.

A permit issued in 2023 to Marlon Brincat, a developer and Labour councillor in Naxxar, had foreseen a home consisting of a basement level and three overlying floors.

Heritage NGO Din l-Art Ħelwa had appealed the decision and the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal revoked the permit in February 2024. The tribunal directed the PA to re-examine the application from the stage preceding the case officer’s recommendation, allowing the developer to revise and resubmit the plans.

A downscaled application, removing the fourth floor, is now being recommended for approval by the case officer but a final decision by the Planning Board scheduled for today was postponed after objector Claire Bonello noted the presentation of new plans on the eve of the public hearing.

The plans were submitted in response to concerns raised by the Older Persons Standards Authority (OPSA), which had flagged a reduction in the external recreational area for residents.

The case will be reconsidered by the board following the issuance of clearance from OPSA.

The care home would be replacing a disused single-storey poultry farm.

Curiously, the case officer report was presented before the Environment and Resources Authority issued its recommendation. 

The latest plans submitted by Brincat also envisage a reduction in the number of beds from 60 to 46 and the number of rooms from 47 to 40.

While the Planning Directorate has concluded that the removal of the uppermost floor is “acceptable” and in line with the Central Malta Local Plan, ERA remains unconvinced.

In its assessment, ERA acknowledged that the removal of the top floor reduces the visual intrusion into the landscape but insists that the visual impact on the rural surroundings remains significant.

It also reiterated key concerns it previously raised—including the uptake of rural land, the conversion of countryside to urban use, and the intensification of development outside the development zone (ODZ). “In this regard, ERA reiterates such concerns and its objection from an environmental point of view,” the authority said.

Should the project be approved, the developer will be required to contribute €49,925 to the Planning Authority’s Planning Fund as a non-refundable planning gain, down from the €61,900 imposed when the original application was approved.

The reduction reflects the decrease in floorspace. These funds will be earmarked for environmental improvement projects in the locality.

The development is being proposed on land between Naxxar and Għargħur, in the vicinity of the Tal-Laqx windmill and Semaphore Tower—an area characterised by its rural landscape.