Second block of flats approved beside medieval Dingli chapel

The Planning Commission has approved an eight-apartment development metres away from Dingli’s medieval Santa Duminka Chapel.

This is the second development approved near the Grade 1 scheduled building despite objections over the impact on the chapel’s archaeological setting.

The application (PA/07782/24), submitted by Brian Azzopardi, involves excavation of the site, three basement garages and eight dwellings in Triq il-Kappella Medjevali. The Planning Commission voted 2-0 in favour.

The site lies within the chapel’s archaeological buffer zone. Objectors argued that the project failed to properly assess the chapel’s wider setting. Furthermore, the Dingli Local Council also objected because of the scheduled building.

The development forms part of a broader process that has opened up this previously inaccessible area of Dingli to residential construction.

Although the area was already within the development zone, construction had been hampered by the lack of road access. Infrastructure Malta constructed Triq il-Kappella Medjevali in 2021, along a road that had been schemed in local plans since the 1960s.

The road was constructed without a planning permit because it was already included in the local plans and a 2008 legal notice exempts state bodies from seeking permits for schemed roads.

Infrastructure Malta said the road was needed to provide access for fire engines and emergency services, while Moviment Graffitti, which organised protests against the road’s construction, warned it would facilitate further development around the historic chapel.

In fact, six years later the site of the new development is now separated from the chapel by the new road.

The first residential application was filed in October 2023 for a block of nine flats on an adjacent site. The Superintendent of Cultural Heritage (SCH) initially objected because of its impact on the chapel. The proposal was subsequently scaled down by removing one full floor and was eventually approved.

Azzopardi’s application was the second residential project to be proposed along the new road. When presented in November 2024, it envisaged nine flats in a five-storey block with a rooftop pool. The plans were subsequently revised to eight dwellings.

The approved project consists of three full floors and a further receded penthouse level.

The PA said the stepped design would minimise the volumes visually affecting the chapel. The SCH raised no objection to the latest plans, subject to archaeological monitoring.

The basement will contain three garages, despite the eight apartments requiring eight parking spaces. The developer will therefore pay €23,000 into the Urban Improvements Fund for the five-space shortfall.