Sta Venera council joins chorus against Valley Road 11-storey block

The Santa Venera local council has joined Msida in objecting to a proposed 11-storey development on the last patches of greenery in Valley Road, warning that the development will increase flooding problems.

The 2,780sq.m development by George Portelli’s Right Properties is located on both sides of a public staircase connecting Valley Road to the residential Triq il-Parilja. The area lies in the border between three highly urbanised localities, namely Msida, Santa Venera and Birkirkara.

The application proposes the demolition of existing old and dilapidated structures, and the excavation of the site, which is presently full of trees, flowers and shrubs, constituting a veritable island of greenery in the densely developed area.

The latest application proposes retail outlets and offices at ground floor level and overlying offices fronting Valley Road. The development also includes residential units fronting Triq il-Parilja and Triq Guzè Flores, served by three levels of underground parking accessible from Triq Flores.

More than 200 residents have objected to the proposed development.

In a report penned by Dplan architects, the Santa Venera council noted that the site in question acts as a water catchment area in which a significant amount of run-off rainwater is collected and absorbed by the vegetation present within the site. The council warned that the proposed development “will undoubtedly result in considerable flooding problems to the surroundings” and that a rainwater outlet within the public staircase will be enveloped by the development.

The council noted that the site contains a variety of flora, fauna and mature trees, which act as a natural habitat for birds, as well as a colony of bats, and improves air quality within an area dominated by high traffic volumes and consequent air pollution.

The development is feared will shift the extent of commercial development beyond that already earmarked within the Santa Venera Local Policy Map, since the current plot acts as a transition zone between commercial and residential uses. “This proposal will inevitably shift commercial activity further into the currently residential zones of Triq Guze’ Flores and Triq il-Parrija,” the council said.

The Superintendence for Cultural Heritage has also expressed its concern on the development, describing the site as “the last surviving tract of undeveloped land” in an area which contains remnants of "traditional uses and agricultural activity along Valley Road”.

It signalled the presence of a number of vernacular structures, which may survive within the site. “The current application proposes a very intense development that will eradicate all traces of the traditional landscape and demolish any surviving vernacular structures,” the SCH warned.

The Msida council had warned that the development will degrade the site, resulting in the removal of all the existing greenery “without a single attempt to include it in the proposed project” except for an “insignificant front garden” on one side of the development which the council described as “highly insulting”.