Lidl wants Fgura local plan zoning changed to get supermarket

Supermarket giant Lidl has applied for changes in the local plan zoning in Fgura so that it can accommodate one of its supermarkets on the site of a scrap-yard which was included inside development zones in 2006.

The local plan approved in 2006 had specified that development on this site should include recreational facilities in the form of public urban open spaces, social and community facilities as well as “residential and commercial/retail development”.

Instead, Lidl wants to designate this area as a “mixed-use area”, and has submitted plans for a supermarket and other commercial facilities and an extensive parking area.

18% of the site is allocated as “green open space”, while development is set to be limited to a maximum height of 17.5 metres.

A planning application to develop the area had been presented by Lidl in 2016 but this was later withdrawn, following a screening letter in which the PA informed the developers that the project was not in line with the local plan.

Former Fgura mayor Byron Camilleri, today Labour Whip, had objected to the development, claiming it was in breach of the local plan which specified that any development in the area must include recreational space.

Lidl has already opened two ODZ stores in Luqa and Safi, both approved before the 2008 general elections.

Other Lidl stores are in Santa Venera, San Gwann, Zejtun, and Qormi, and in Xewkija, a small part of which is also outside the development zones.

Another supermarket was approved instead of the Fort Blocks industrial complex in Mosta.

An application to build a Lidl outlet on ODZ land by the bypass between San Gwann and Birkirkara has been withdrawn.