Siġġiewi residents will meet next Wednesday to discuss concerns about plans to build more than 80 social housing units in the town, mayor Alessia Psaila Zammit said today.

Organised by the local council, the meeting will see councillors and residents air their misgivings about the government's housing plan.

The project, which forms part of a nationwide €50 million project to develop more than 600 social housing units, will take up land along Triq Dun Manwel Zammit, Triq it-tabib Nikol Zammit and Triq l-Imdina. 

Siġġiewi's local council recently distributed a petition among residents calling for a smaller social housing project, with fewer housing units and more community facilities and public recreational areas. 

READ: Siġġiewi social housing project to go ahead

In a statement, Dr Psaila Zammit said that while the local council was not opposed to having social housing units in Siġġiewi, the proposed project's density and scale would negatively affect the town's central areas. 

The Planning Authority will decide on a permit related to the project tomorrow morning, and in its statement the local council said that everything indicated that the PA would approve plans to expand the project and increase parking spaces for it. 

"Rather than considering this project and its impact holistically, authorities seem dead-set on developing a project which will negatively impact central Siġġiewi and its residents," Dr Psaila Zammit said. 

The public meeting is scheduled to take place at 6pm on Wednesday, September 13 on Triq Dun Manwel Zammit.