“This is a first win for the countryside,” an environmentalist said after the Planning Authority unanimously rejected an application for the rehabilitation of a quarry and the building of a retirement home in Wied Għomor, San Ġwann.
“This is a first win for the countryside. Din l-Art Ħelwa is proud to have been part of this. The residents of St Julian’s, Swieqi and San Ġwann put in a lot of effort to mobilise the NGOs,” Din l-Art Ħelwa council member Joanna Spiteri Staines said when contacted.
Front Ħarsien ODZ spokesman Michael Briguglio said the decision to reject the application served as proof that civil society could be effective in bringing about change.
“In Malta, many feel they cannot do much to bring about change but this decision shows that, when people unite, there can be change,” he said.
The rejection should serve as a stepping stone for other residents who would in the future be fighting against development, representatives of environmental NGOs opposing the application said.
“Front Ambjent Aħjar fails to understand how the case officer could recommend approval of the permit without any reference to ecological regulations,” spokeswoman Astrid Vella said.
Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Arnold Cassola said that, while common sense prevailed this time around, this was not always the case, as was evident in recent decision by the Planning Authority.
“In the past three days, permits for development in ODZ areas in Mellieħa, Rabat, Mqabba and Mġarr were granted. This is not acceptable,” Prof. Cassola said.
During a two-hour-long meeting, the mayors of San Ġwann and Swieqi, residents, representatives of Front Ħarsien ODZ, Flimkien Għal Ambjent Aħjar and Din l-Art Ħelwa and Nationalist MPs Marthese Portelli and Kristy Debono made their case against the application.
The board members were given a petition signed by 4,500 residents urging the Planning Authority to reject the development and protect the valley.
According to the proposal, the old people’s home’s would have had a gross floor area of 9,890 square metres over five floors, with a footprint of 2,700 square metres and taking up eight per cent of the quarry area. Two storeys would have risen above the quarry’s topmost level.
The “high quality retirement complex” was to include 115 two-bedroomed units and 18 one-bedroomed ones. Ancillary facilities, including a gym, restaurant, a hall and a parking area, were to support the residential services.
The scheme included a public garden and belvedere.
Swieqi mayor Noel Muscat said the local councils of Swieqi, San Ġwann and St Julian’s were objecting to the application.
“Swieqi residents are choking. We have no public space and we are stranded within our locality, with the only exit being a narrow tunnel that pedestrians must share with cars. Wied Mejxu has been destroyed: don’t destroy our last valley,” Mr Muscat pleaded.
A resident remarked that “No Swieqi resident is for the current state of development but the few that are benefitting financially and these probably live elsewhere”.
“The term rehabilitation in this application is incorrect. It is simply an ODZ development within a quarry,” insisted San Ġwann mayor Etienne Bonello Dupuis.
Din l-Art Ħelwa argued that, should the application be approved, the Planning Authority would be setting a dangerous precedent for quarries’ rehabilitation and open the way for further development at Wied Għomor.
While the applicant pushed the developer’s requirements, the Planning Authority had to consider the residents’ needs, a representative of Front Ħarsien ODZ said.