Church commission opposes residential development in Ħal Ferħ

Residential development at the former Ħal Ferħ complex now owned by the Corinthia hotels group would show a lack of commitment towards better and more intelligent planning, the Church’s Commission for the Environment (KA) said in a statement.

The commission said allowing residential development at the Hal-Ferħ site was unacceptable because only quality tourism development should be undertaken in what it described as one of the most beautiful areas in Malta.

The government recently asked the Planning Authority to make an ad hoc change to the local plan to accommodate plans for residential development by the Corinthia Group, which owns the land where a tourism complex was approved in 2013. The land originally belonged to government-owned Air Malta but was handed back to the government as part of a financial rescue package for the airline under the Gonzi administration. The land was then transferred to a hotel group for tourist development.

The main change being proposed to the local plan and the Ħal Ferħ Development Brief is to include permanent residential development in the list of acceptable land uses on the site of the tourist complex. The change in local plan is subject to public consultation.

In August 2019, the Planning Authority agreed to extend the permit for the conversion of the derelict Ħal Ferħ holiday complex in Għajn Tuffieħa into an upmarket tourist resort.

Island Hotels Group was issued a permit in 2013 for an €80 million project of 228 luxury suites, pools, bars and restaurants. The company was eventually bought by the Corinthia Group’s International Hotel Investments, but no works have ever been carried out on site.

The KA said this was not the first time that use of property formerly owned by the government was changed, showing that commercial interests for those who gain public land through concessions came before the duty to protect the country’s tourism infrastructure.

The KA warned that allowing  residential development in this area would result in residential development spilling outside development zones, something already happening through the Rural Policy and Design Guidance, which permitted the development of residential blocks to replace mounds of stones in the countryside. 

The KA has already objected to this change in the zoning of the Ghajn Tuffieha complex, during public consultation for the revision of the northwest local plan and the Ħal Far development.

It encouraged the government to ensure that all development in the country would be the result of intelligent planning that safeguarded the built and natural heritage of the country.

The KA expressed satisfaction at the Planning Authority’s decision to grant Villa Frere in Guardamangia maximum protection and praised the issuing of guidelines for more attention to be given to scheduled buildings and monuments during the processing of applications for development close by.

It augured the spirit of these guidelines would not be undermined by members of boards who decided on such applications.