[WATCH] 'ODZ should remain ODZ', Naxxar mayor says on elderly home development

No development should take place on ODZ land, Naxxar mayor Chris Deguara said in a video explaining the local council’s position on an elderly home development in the locality. 

In a video uploaded to Facebook, Deguara said the local council hired to consultants to help submit representations to the Planning Authority against the development. 

“I want to ask the government to join us, together with Opposition and all NGOs, to protect ODZ land so that it can be enjoyed by everyone in Malta,” he said.

The elderly home is being proposed on 9,325sq.m of farmland along Triq Wied Anglu at the corner with Triq il-Vittmi tan-Nar, Naxxar, in close vicinity to the Victoria Lines and the Birguma quarry, which overlook the Gharghur countryside.

Last week, the Naxxar local council had also objected to what is called an “outrageous” application for an elderly home and 104-car parking area to be built on rural farmland outside the building zones in Birguma

The Planning Authority has already approved two elderly homes in ODZ areas in Naxxar in the last seven years, with the most recent being one proposed by PL local councillor Marlon Brincat instead of an abandoned far, less than half a kilometre away from this application.

That application was approved, but the decision has been appealed by environmental NGOs.