Application for Church primary school rejected

The planning authority has thrown out a request to build a primary school as part of St Augustine’s College in Pietà, denting an ambitious €20 million Church project to expand five of its schools.

The vote went four in favour and three against after the planning officer on the case said the design and height of the proposed building were unacceptable.

He said the project lacked coordination, would constitute overdevelopment of the site and failed to respect the context of the Urban Conservation Area.

St Augustine’s College was once a primary school, which now functions as a secondary school with 450 students. It now needs to reintroduce a primary school, adding another 350 pupils, as the national education reform emphasises a smooth transition between primary and secondary schooling.

The Church’s plan is to expand five of its schools to incorporate both levels, at a cost of €20 million.

The proposal of St Augustine’s was for four floors and two basement levels, covering an area of 7,700 square metres, to be built in an undeveloped site between the college and back gardens in a residential area.

The case officer pointed out that the building was “very modern in design” and was in “conspicuous contrast” to the surrounding scheduled buildings. The height was also a concern because it was two storeys higher than the adjacent scheduled building, making it “incompatible with the area’s characteristics”. The lack of parking spaces was another issue raised by a number of objectors who pointed out that the area already suffered from a shortage.

When it was consulted, Transport Malta had agreed with a proposed car park of 74 spaces and did not object to the project because of measures listed in a traffic study.

While acknowledging that traffic issues had been addressed, the case officer pointed out that the “need” for a school did not justify the “intensification of the development in a very restricted site” which would affect the area.