WATCH | Pembroke residents demand council step down from planning board after db Group deal

A group of Pembroke residents has demanded that members of the local council step aside from representing the

 town on the Planning Authority board, following revelations of a €3 million agreement between the council and db Group.

During a heated council meeting on Wednesday evening, residents presented a petition expressing “anger and frustration” over what they described as secretive negotiations carried out without any public consultation.

At the centre of the dispute is a contract signed between Pembroke Local Council and db Group, in which the council reportedly agreed not to object to the extension of the controversial City Centre Project in exchange for funding a civic centre.

Residents accused the council of betraying the community’s trust by holding closed-door meetings with one of Malta’s most contentious developers.

“This is not just a failure of communication—it is a gross abuse of public trust,” the petition reads.

The letter, signed by dozens of residents, called for full disclosure of all meetings, correspondence, and agreements between the council and db Group. It also demanded a formal guarantee that no future discussions with private developers take place without public involvement.

Citing the council’s “blatant lack of transparency,” the petition declared that residents had lost confidence in councillors to represent them during the Planning Authority hearing for application PA 3218/25. Instead, they requested that a resident nominee be appointed to speak on behalf of the community.

Residents also criticised the council for holding private meetings with select individuals and families to explain the deal, calling it a “divide-and-rule tactic” aimed at justifying the agreement. They demanded a single public meeting open to all Pembroke residents.

“The council must understand that its first and only duty is to the residents—not to developers, not to private interests, and certainly not to silence,” the petition stated.

Council reaction  

The Pembroke Local Council said it has always acted in the best interests of the community, though it has no legal authority to revoke or approve permits already granted to the DB Group.

Contact with stakeholders, including the developers, has been described as essential, with talks intensifying in recent months following an application to amend existing permits. While the council had previously raised concerns before the permits were approved, it said it has since taken a proactive role during the construction phase to ensure residents benefit as much as possible.

As a result of these discussions, the council secured a €3 million investment in projects requested by the community. These include a new community centre with a council hall that will also serve as a day centre for older residents, a larger public library, childcare facilities and a bereġ. An underground car park will also be built to ease parking shortages, with a new 2,000-square-metre open space created above it in central Pembroke. The council said this "responsible, forward-looking approach, unanimously supported by its members," will ensure residents receive long-needed services in a more timely way.

db’s Pembroke Towers

The Institute of Tourism Studies (ITS) site in Pembroke was transferred to db Group as part of a controversial land deal approved by parliament in 2017. The agreement granted the company a 99-year concession to redevelop the prime seafront location into a mixed-use project for a total of €60 million, with only €15 million being paid upfront.

Originally, the project was proposed as a 38-storey tower and a 17-storey hotel, but the permit for this development was later revoked by the law courts.

Subsequently, the company put forward new plans in April 2020 that reduced the size of the residential tower to 31 floors.

A few months later the plans were changed again to accommodate two towers—one of 17 floors and another of 18 floors, apart from the hotel. At the time, the db Group said it had “listened and acted” after public and institutional feedback, by voluntarily lowering the height and splitting the original tower into two. The company argued this created larger open spaces, reduced excavation by some 58,000 cubic metres, integrated historic structures, and lessened disruption to surrounding residents and traffic.

This proposal was granted approval by the Planning Board in 2021 by a slim majority of five votes to three.

In June this year, the db Group applied to add seven and six floors respectively to each of the two towers currently under construction.

This will mean that the proposed towers will increase in height from the approved 17 and 18 floors to 23 and 25 floors, respectively. No additional height is being proposed for the approved 12-storey hotel, which will be a Hard Rock franchise.

If approved, these changes will result in an additional 82 apartments over and above the approved 162.