Lija council, residents up in arms as PA approves apartment development

Lija local council and residents were up in arms after the Planning Authority gave the go-ahead for a five-storey apartment block in a quiet area currently characterised by low-lying villas.

At a hearing on Wednesday, there was uproar as the Planning Commission board gave its unanimous verdict, with residents shouting that the authority had been reduced to selling apartments and that the case had been pre-decided.

“The board simply wasn’t ready to listen; our arguments were completely ignored,” Lija mayor Magda Magri Naudi was reported telling the Times of Malta after the decision. The council was expected to appeal against the approval.

The application, which featured 27 apartments over four floors as well as penthouses and basement areas, had been recommended for approval on the strength of the area’s local plan, which allows applications for buildings of that height to be approved.

Residents and eNGOs had argued that the development would forever alter the character of the area and strain the local infrastructure, cramming a residential population equivalent to the entirety of the town into two new blocks.

Robin Zammit said during the hearing there was no need for “this Buġibba-style project” when there were already so many vacant developments in the area.

Planning Commission chairman Elizabeth Ellul, however, responded to residents’ concerns by stating that the board had to abide by the local plan, and that the issues should have been raised 10 years ago when the plan was approved.

Flimkien Għal Ambjent Aħjar coordinator Astrid Vella hit back by questioning the legality of the plan, which she claimed was approved without the consultation of a number of the relevant local councils.

She also argued that the PA had no legal obligation to grant permission for the full number of floors allowed by the height limitation policy, and that the authority had failed to take into account other relevant sections of the local plan and more general policies.

“There are many cases of the PA granting only lower heights to protect the urban streetscape and quality of life of future generations,” she said.

Heritage NGO Din L-Art Ħelwa had also objected to the development, which it said was not in line with the characteristics of the two-storey villa area, and misused new building heights to pack in five floors.

“Developments with such a high density are unsustainable in this context, where 27 flats are proposed in the space previously occupied by two houses and over-stretches the capacity of the road network and parking spaces of the area,” the NGO said.