The Swieqi local council has been given the right to be notified and respond to an appeal filed by developers contesting the refusal of a permit for a controversial old people’s home in Wied Għomor.
The council was originally not notified of the appeal as it was not a registered objector. But in the first hearing yesterday, the Appeals Tribunal ruled that the council had to be considered an external consultee and given the right to representation in the appeals process.
The council and other objectors, including the Light Pollution Awareness Group, now have until the end of the month to submit a response to the developers’ appeal. The next hearing will take place in November.
The appeal seeks to overturn a refusal to grant a permit for a 133-room elderly residence in a quarry in Wied Għomor, which is located outside development zones between San Ġwann and Swieqi.
The application was unanimously rejected by the PA board in May, despite having been recommended for approval.
The board had 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.
One of the few green lungs in the area
In a joint statement on Wednesday, the local councils of San Ġwann, Swieqi and St Julian’s insisted on their right of representation and questioned the “haste on a matter that affects the residents of one of the most over-developed areas of Malta”.
“Wied Għomor is the only open and natural valley remaining in this area. The approval of such a project would cause a significant increase in traffic through these congested towns, and trigger the urbanisation of the valley, which contravenes the policies of the SPED [Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development],” the councils said.
The Swieqi council has previously said Wied Għomor, which is characterised by an intricate system of terracing, consisting mainly of fields on relatively steep valley flanks, is under threat from a raft of applications, and that approving one could open the floodgates for more.
Meanwhile, Front Ħarsien ODZ, one of several environmental groups opposed to the project due to the impact on the rural character of the valley, said the project’s refusal “reflected the widespread consensus in civil society against development in one of the few green lungs in the area” and called for the a decision to be confirmed.