The Swieqi local council has unanimously agreed to stand against a proposed development in “one of the last green lungs in the area”.

Mayor Noel Muscat said that the council would not accept the proposed development of a tourist village in an ODZ valley between Swieqi and neighbouring San Ġwann, as the area was becoming increasingly overdeveloped.

“We don’t have any open spaces in Swieqi; we cannot afford to develop one of the last stretches of green space,” Mr Muscat said.

Plans for the development, spread across 13,000 square metres of green land, were submitted to the planning authority earlier this month.

Let’s face it, the whole area is a jungle,an expensive concrete jungle

The project would redevelop an abandoned cow farm as a complex including residential units, pools, a chapel, a spa and a restaurant. The site, proposed by Rodrick Fenech, owner of Mensija Real Estate Ltd, is located outside the development zone.

Mr Muscat said the council would monitor the proposal and decide what action to take once the application was reviewed by the planning authority.

San Ġwann mayor Etienne Bonello DuPuis has also spoken out against the proposal, insisting the project would destroy what was left of the valley.

Mr Muscat, however, said Swieqi’s construction problems were not limited to the valley proposal.

“Let’s face it, the whole area is a jungle, an expensive concrete jungle. The population is growing at an incredible pace and we don’t even have a piazza,” Mr Muscat said.

The council, he said, met newly-appointed Planning Parliamentary Secretary Deborah Schembri to discuss the problem of over-development last Monday.

He said the population in the area was expected to “explode” in the coming years.

“We have large villas – which once housed a family of four – being turned into apartment blocks or complexes of maisonettes and smaller villas. This is happening all over Swieqi,” Mr Muscat said.

The council urged the government to purchase a private plot of land for use as an open space, as this would prove invaluable in the coming years. Not only did the locality not have any sport facilities, but a growing number of residents were foreigners, meaning the sense of community was dwindling.

“A public square is essential in a community,” he said.