Parking proposed on Pace Grasso football ground

Infrastructure Malta has submitted an application to transform the abandoned Pace Grasso football ground into a “surface open-air parking area” for 201 cars, located close to the locality’s health centre.

The car park, also described as a ‘mobility hub’ in the plans submitted to the Planning Authority, is set to include a small kiosk, a BCRS facility, and a public convenience area.

Plans also foresee the planting of trees on five landscaped islands between parking bays.
The site is already being used as an unofficial and unregulated parking area. Its use as a ‘park and ride’ project was announced by Transport Minister Chris Bonnett in November 2024.

The application for the car park was submitted following the withdrawal of an application by the Public Works Department, presented in August 2023, to transform the same 10,100 sq.m site into a public park. That project had included extensive afforestation, community gardens, and even a sculpture trail.

The withdrawn application also foresaw the widening of two existing entrances and the installation of an elevator. It also envisaged converting Triq tal-Borg, and parts of Triq is-Sorijiet and Triq il-Knisja, into slow streets.

This application for development permission has since been withdrawn by the applicant.

The abandoned football pitch was created in the post-war years through the dumping of debris over previously undeveloped land and is contained by a high embankment wall. The site lies 250 metres north of the Tarxien Temples and approximately 450 metres northeast of the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum.

The Superintendence for Cultural Heritage has not objected to the plans but has warned of the possible presence of archaeological remains beneath the existing development and dumped material. This would require archaeological monitoring and possible revisions to the plans.

The proposed works for the car park include the internal demolition of existing structures, the demolition of the exterior fence located at the edge of the football pitch, the restoration of the glacis, and the construction of an additional opening.