Zebbug council rues parking loss from Dar Bjorn hospice

The Zebbug local council has unanimously objected to proposed changes to plans for the new Djar Bjorn hospice, which foresees the removal of 20 underground car park spaces.

The care home was approved in 2019 and came as a result of the tireless fundraising initiatives captained by ALS sufferer and activist Bjorn Formosa.

The latest planning application will reduce the number of parking spaces from 20 to just two. But the local council has warned that this will exacerbate parking problems in the locality, which would increase “pressure” on residents.

While supporting the “noble aims” of the project, the council insisted that it cannot abscond on its responsibility to voice residents’ concerns. 120 residents signed a petition to appeal the PA turn down the application, warning that “when the project is complete, staff and visitors will require parking facilities that are already saturated at street level” in what is now still a “a quiet residential area”.

The massive six-storey high Dar Bjorn, which is set to include 29 bedrooms, was approved last year and is located within a residential zone with a height limitation of three floors.

Back then, the case officer acknowledged that the proposed development exceeds the height limitation of the area. But noting the proposed use of the new facility, the PA’s directorate decided to apply a policy regulating the heights of old people’s homes, which permits an additional two floors over and above the number of floors permitted in the Local Plan, provided that “the resultant design features a high quality product in keeping with the urban context and no blank walls are created”.