The Għarb council is infuriated over the revival of a decades-old application for a home for the elderly on ODZ land near the iconic Ta’ Pinu Basilica.
The application, first filed in 2008, had been repeatedly turned down until a legal battle ensued between the developers, Amalia Cefai, on behalf of Gozo Caterers Limited, and the Planning Authority over its latest refusal to allow the proposed development.
In its decision, the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal, chaired by Martin Saliba, sent the application back to the Planning Authority to reconsider it according to the latest policies and guidelines, which have changed since the application was first submitted.
The tribunal said that the Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development (SPED), which was approved by Parliament in July 2015, made provisions for such proposals.
It provides for “new social and community facilities within the urban area and where no other feasible alternatives exist allowing consideration within appropriate locations in the rural area for education, health, elderly, disability and rehabilitation facilities”.
The tribunal also noted that the site plan submitted with the original application did not correspond to the application so that rendered the decision to refuse “null and void”.
Għarb mayor David Apap told The Sunday Times of Malta the council happened to find out about this decision by chance, as it had not been informed despite being a registered objector.
Mr Apap said the original application had been refused because the proposed old people’s home, on a site that falls outside the limits to development, went against the provisions of various policies, including the Local Plan for Gozo and Comino.
In the green gem that is Gozo, it is inconceivable to allow the concretisation of the island
The council is objecting to the proposed development because the site is in the ODZ, also very close to Ta’ Pinu, and would ruin the landscape of the area which, it argues, is not adequate for a home for the elderly. The residence would also increase traffic flows.
The environmental NGO Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar expressed deep concern yesterday over the proposed development.
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“After having ruined much of Malta, the concrete vultures are now turning on Gozo,” it said.
The FAA’s Tara Cassar said this application “may be approved under one of a raft of policies that enable the commercialisation and development of ODZ areas under one pretext or another”.
“The PA always justifies these repugnant policies by stating that the drafting process involved the participation of all stakeholders. It conveniently forgets the fact that stakeholders objecting to proposed policies are always ignored. In the green gem that is Gozo, it is inconceivable to allow the concretisation of the island,” she said when asked about the proposed development.
The development is proposed to stretch across nearly 1,100 square metres of land, consisting of a two-storey building with a further two floors at basement level.
The site lies on the very edge of Għarb, along the road that links the outskirts of the village to the Ta’ Pinu shrine.
The council is objecting also because the site lies within an environmentally protected area. There was no justification for the development of the site, the mayor insisted. No consultations were carried out back when the application was first being considered “since the proposal is unacceptable in principle on policy grounds”, the case officer said in his report.
The proposal, he added, failed to provide for car parking spaces and would give rise to “unacceptable additional on-street parking”.
The Planning Authority rebutted the appeal by insisting that the proposed development conflicted with the Structure Plan which does not permit urban development outside existing and committed built-up areas.
It said that homes for the elderly “are preferably located within town centres”.
matthew.xuereb@timesofmalta.com