Proposed changes to the planning policy for Naxxar’s old trade fairground risk opening the land to “undesirable uses” – including the possible return of a trade fair – according to objectors.

The Planning Authority is currently considering a zoning application by Fairs & Exhibitions Ltd to exclude the 60,000-square-metre site, a large part of which is owned by the government, from the area’s local plan.

The local plan currently prohibits the area from being used as a trade fair and designates it for “high-quality residential development”, a local centre and underground car park, with the central walkway retained and upgraded.

The proposed changes would remove these restrictions but do not specify any alternative uses for the site, which is the largest unbuilt area within the Naxxar development zone.

“The development of these sites will have a huge impact on the surrounding areas, as well as the whole of Naxxar, and careful and sensitive planning is required to ensure that past errors are not repeated,” one objector, a local architect, wrote in a representation to the Planning Authority.

Careful and sensitive planning is required to ensure that past errors are not repeated

“It is therefore important that the areas are developed in a comprehensive manner and avoid haphazard and uncoordinated development. The application seeks piecemeal development of the different sites and will result in incoherent development.”

Some of its once-busy stalls. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

The local plan also requires any development on site, and the resulting street layout, to be planned in a sensitive manner to respect the adjacent Naxxar urban conservation area. These restrictions, including limitations of vehicle access to one street, will be wiped out by the proposed changes.

Moreover, the existing policy requires any developer to make a financial contribution as a planning obligation, which is to be used to create a landscaped public open space and children’s play area.

The Naxxar local council has already obtained a permit for such a project, but objectors argue that if the planning obligation is removed, the council is unlikely to have the resources to implement it.

The annual trade fair was moved to Ta’ Qali in 2007 after 50 years in Naxxar. Three years later, exhibitors attempted to hold the fair in Naxxar again, filing a court case against the Commerce Division after it refused to grant the necessary licence.

An Appeals Court ruled in 2014 that the grounds were not licensed to hold commercial exhibitions. The Naxxar local council has consistently opposed any attempts to reinstate the trade fair in the town.