The Planning Authority wants a comprehensive development plan for the area around the former Trade Fair Grounds in Naxxar, the subject of two large-scale applications.
The PA met yesterday to discuss a controversial zoning application by Fairs & Exhibitions Ltd, which would create new roads and allow residential buildings of up to 17.5 metres over large parts of the open 60,000-square-metre site in the area known as Il-Ġwejdja, excluding the area from the existing local plan policy.
The site now consists of a parking area, a football pitch and fields and is the largest unbuilt area within the Naxxar development zone.
It is also adjacent to a site where the heirs of the Marquis John Scicluna have submitted an application for an extensive commercial and residential complex on the old Trade Fair Grounds themselves, comprising 49 blocks of apartments, offices and retail outlets, some rising to seven storeys.
The PA executive council suspended a decision on the Fairs & Exhibitions Ltd zoning application for four weeks to request more information on the second application and gauge how the two developments will impact one another.
Both applications have raised complaints from residents and the Naxxar local council, including over the additional traffic they will individually generate.
The proposal seeks maximum developable capacity
In one of the objections submitted to the PA over the zoning application, environmental group Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar said the proposal “only seeks maximum developable capacity and is void of any urban planning guided through a sustainable comprehensive approach”, highlighting the lack of green or open public spaces.
FAA added that the large amount of 17.5-metre buildings, with no transition to the adjacent urban conservation area, “would only serve to promote the development of generic apartment blocks and create poor quality urban spaces”.
The local council has raised concerns over the negative effect on the character of the area, particularly the adjacent Pjazza Ċelsi.
The application also includes a government “disability hub” on part of the site and public sports facilities on the present dilapidated football pitch, which, however, is earmarked in the Trade Fair Grounds development application for apartment blocks.
The Trade Fair Grounds application, suspended pending the outcome of the adjacent proposal, has also raised the objections of the local council and residents, particularly over the seven-storey height of some of the blocks, which is significantly above the height limitation policy for the area.
The council has expressed concerns over the strain on existing electricity, water and drainage services and the lack of public recreational areas.
Some residents have said the development would “render the traffic situation in Naxxar and San Pawl tat-Tarġa completely uncontrollable”.