Entire stretch of Burmarrad main road to be turned into four-storey zone

The Planning Authority is considering turning a 20,000 square metre stretch along Burmarrad Road into a full-blown commercial area. 

The area starts from the Burmarrad Commercials compound near the Kiabi store, where development is currently limited to one floor, into four-storey commercial development rising to 17.5m, and ends at the start of the Wardija hill where the Scotts supermarket is.

The proposal, issued for public consultation, envisages changing the zoning of the area to include offices, retail shops and catering establishment. 

The zone, which includes a plot of land owned by the Easysell Kia company previously earmarked for a petrol station, will run around the outskirts of the quiet Burmarrad village. 

The land includes stretches of degraded farmland, and land previously earmarked for a new showroom and offices by JVM Enterprises, which had been refused in 2013.  

The local plan approved in 2006 had already permitted limited development on the site through its zoning as “an area of containment” - a designation for sites outside the development zone (ODZ) which already include commercial developments. 

But the local plan limited development on this site to one floor and only allowed retail and office development as ancillary to the main use of the site for “vehicle 
repairs and maintenance, storage, and showrooms.” 

Moreover developers in the area were encouraged to come together and present one comprehensive development limited to a land area of 4,200 sq.m of land out of a total of around 20,000 sq.m.