PA approves crematorium under cemetery extension policy

The Planning Authority has approved Malta’s first crematorium in Siġġiewi after treating it as an extension to the existing Ta’ Brija cemetery, rather than as a standalone crematorium.

The Planning Board approved the project by seven votes to two, with Siġġiewi mayor Ryan Cachia and NGO representative Romano Cassar voting against.

The classification was central to the case because the PA has a separate policy, approved in 2024, governing standalone crematoria.

Instead, the case officer assessed the project under the 2015 Cemeteries Policy, which allows extensions to existing cemeteries. The policy on standalone crematoria limits such facilities to the principle urban area thus excluding more sensitive locations like the Siġġiewi countryside.

NGO representative Romano Cassar questioned whether the cemetery-extension policy could apply to Ta’ Brija, where the last burial took place in 1936. He raised the possibility that the classification could allow the project to bypass the restrictions applying to standalone crematoria.

The project, proposed by funeral undertaker Mario Tonna, will occupy around 11,615sq.m of ODZ land beside the historic cemetery and include a crematorium, chapel, mortuary and 2,480 columbaria.

The Siġġiewi council also challenged the classification, while the applicant argued that burial facilities had already been approved as part of an earlier cemetery extension.

Former minister John Dalli, said he was not opposed to cremation but questioned the facility’s health impact and commercial viability, asking whether bodies would have to be imported for it to be viable.

Former Nationalist MP Karol Aquilina opposed the location, arguing that a crematorium was incompatible with the rural surroundings and questioning its impact on nearby residents.

The project also faced objections over emissions, traffic, flooding and the development of ODZ land.

The approval does not itself allow the crematorium to operate, with environmental and other operational authorisations still required.