PA refuses ODZ elderly home in Żabbar

The Planning Authority has unanimously rejected (by nine votes against none) an application to construct a large elderly home on protected Outside Development Zone (ODZ) land in Żabbar, just two weeks before the general election.

The application, submitted by developer Clinton Spiteri, proposed a four-storey elderly care home with three basement levels on over 4,000sq.m of agricultural land overlooking Wied ta’ Mazza along Triq Wied il-Għajn. The project included 92 rooms for more than 200 residents, as well as a dementia day centre, pharmacy, swimming pool, gym, mortuary, and 153 underground parking spaces.

Architect and former MP Charles Buhagiar argued that the application was submitted as an outline development request solely to determine whether an elderly home could be permitted on the site. He insisted that key studies, including site selection analysis, had not yet been completed, and therefore no full presentation on the design was made.

“I cannot understand why the application was placed on the agenda when key studies have not been completed,” Buhagiar said, describing any decision at this stage as premature. He added that the applicant would withdraw the proposal if studies showed the site to be unsuitable.

“How can you vote on a proposal before the studies required under policy are carried out?” he asked.

However, Planning Authority Executive Chairman Johann Buttigieg said the authority was following standard procedure for outline applications, which are intended to determine whether a proposal is acceptable in principle.

The local council’s architect, Alistair Cavallone, described the project as a “no-starter”, stating that it was not acceptable under current planning policies.

In a strongly worded recommendation, the Development and Management Directorate concluded that the scheme was “unacceptable” as it would urbanise a protected rural landscape entirely outside the development zone. The site lies within an Agricultural Area, a Valley Protection Zone, and an Area of Ecological and Scientific Importance, as designated by the South Malta Local Plan.

Case officers warned that the development would significantly increase visual intrusion into a sensitive valley landscape and irreversibly alter the rural character of the area. “The proposed development is inappropriate within the surrounding context,” the report stated, noting that the area is dominated by farmland and open countryside.

Although national policy allows elderly homes as one of the few forms of social infrastructure that may, in exceptional cases, be considered on ODZ land under the Strategic Plan for Environment and Development (SPED), planners stressed that this applies only where no feasible alternatives exist within development boundaries. They concluded that the Żabbar site “can never be acceptable from a planning point of view” due to its protected status.

The Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) also objected, warning that the proposal would result in the “uptake of ODZ land to accommodate urban uses”, and insisted such developments should be located within already urbanised areas. As the scheme was deemed unacceptable in principle, ERA did not require a full Environmental Impact Assessment, which is normally requested for projects of this scale in sensitive areas.

The proposal first sparked controversy last summer when details emerged that it would occupy agricultural land linking Żabbar to Marsaskala. It was opposed by NGOs including Moviment Graffitti and Din l-Art Ħelwa, which argued that the scale of the development was incompatible with the rural landscape and contrary to national ODZ protection policies.

The Żabbar Local Council, led by Labour mayor Jorge Grech, also objected, stating that alternative sites exist within development boundaries and warning that the project would lead to extensive loss of rural land.