The controversial application for an old people’s home outside the development zone in Wied Għomor will be the subject of an appeal after being rejected overwhelmingly by the Planning Authority.
The appeal, which is scheduled to be heard on Thursday, seeks to overturn the refusal to grant a permit for a 133-room elderly residence in a disused quarry in the valley, which is located outside development zones between San Ġwann and Swieqi.
The application was rejected unanimously by the PA board in May, despite having been recommended for approval.
The board said the proposed development within the valley area breached a number of objectives set out in the approved Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development.
Swieqi mayor Noel Muscat, one of several vociferous opponents of the project, told the Times of Malta yesterday: “The appeal is extremely disappointing when you consider people’s anger at what is happening with the environment all over the country.
“Swieqi is being overdeveloped, with no consideration for adequate open spaces, and now they’re going to destroy one of the few open spaces we have left.”
READ: Wied Għomor plans unanimously rejected by PA Board
Mr Muscat said the council had only been informed about the appeal in the past few days and had written to the appeals tribunal to request a postponement of Thursday’s hearing, allowing the council to mount a proper opposition.
The appeal is extremely disappointing when you consider people’s anger at what is happening with the environment all over the country
Wied Għomor is characterised by an intricate system of terracing, consisting mainly of fields on relatively steep valley flanks.
Residents as well as local councils in the area have campaigned to have the valley protected, insisting that this project would not consist of rehabilitation of the quarry, but more construction.
Some 4,500 residents signed a petition urging the PA to reject the development and conserve the valley. Developers argued, however, that the project would follow the original contours of the site, thus minimising its environmental impact while rehabilitating the site.
The residence for the elderly would occupy eight per cent of the site and rise two storeys above the quarry. In 2011, the Mepa board decided that any development on the site should not take up more than five per cent of the quarry.
Several environmental groups joined in the chorus of disapproval over the original application. NGOs said the application would destroy the character of the valley, set dangerous precedents on the rehabilitation of quarries and open the door to further development in Wied Għomor.
The Nationalist Party welcomed the PA decision to reject the permit and called on the government to rehabilitate the area for the benefit of the people.
The PA board recently turned down an application to convert a small run-down farmhouse in the adjoining Wied il-Kbir into a sprawling villa nearly four times the size, complete with swimming pool and decking.
An appeal against the decision to refuse the extension and construction of a pool – on ODZ land – at another villa in the valley is currently being considered, while plans for an entire tourist village instead of a cow farm were recently abandoned by developers after negative feedback from the PA.