Opposition leader Simon Busuttil is backing a petition against the building of apartments in a six-storey block that will ruin part of Lija, the Nationalist Party said today.

The locality's local council is campaigning against the granting of a permit for the development, which, the PN said, could come about because of a change of policies by the Labour government. 

Dr Busuttil said it was the people's duty to safeguard the character of Malta's villages so that they could be enjoyed by future generations.

The petition, to Parliamentary Secretary Deborah Schembri, says that the development, on the confines of Lija and Balzan, will turn a quiet street with villas/bungalows on one side, and uniform two-story terraced houses on the side of the applicant, into a metropolis of flats, five storeys high.

"This can actually now happen in every village in Malta and Gozo where terraced houses exist today, due to new policies by the Planning Authority (PA), effective November 2015." 

"We consider this proposed development to be the epitome of a bad neighbour development, as instead of four terraced houses housing approximately 16 residents, this complex proposes 27 flats, including one commercial. This will increase density exponentially and make the village of Lija akin to a dense city like Sliema, with all its problems. This is not what we want or invested our life savings in."

The 27 flats will provide for 108 new residents – and some 52 cars. If the whole surrounding block is developed to the same density, some 800 residents will be accommodated.  

The plans provide for just 30 parking spaces one less than PA’s minimum policy.

 

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.