Plans have been submitted for a 10-storey aparthotel in a residential area of Swieqi, raising fears of developers looking to extend Paceville into once-quiet neighbourhoods nearby.

The application by Talal Naser El Abdullah, published on Wednesday, seeks to build an 88-room aparthotel, underground parking and amenities including a mini-market and rooftop pool on a plot off Triq is-Swieqi.

The site lies about 250 metres from the underpass to Paceville and St George’s Bay and is surrounded mostly by two- and three-storey terraced houses, as well as a few taller apartment blocks.

It is zoned as a residential priority area, where only residential applications are to be considered.

Swieqi mayor Noel Muscat told the Times of Malta the local council planned to object to the application, noting that the surrounding roads were inadequate for such an intensive project.

“This is a residential area, not an extension of Paceville. There are many other areas for this type of development,” he said.

Highlighting the constant eating-up of open space in the locality, Mr Muscat said the council was opposed to commercial developments in residential areas.

“The architects know what the law says,” the mayor said, referring to the residential zoning, “so why do they press forward with these applications anyway?”

The council raised similar fears last June when the Planning Authority approved an eight-storey, 104-bedroom hotel in place of a two-storey house in Lourdes Lane. The area was designated as a residential buffer zone, where only small-scale uses were allowed, and it was dominated by two-storey residential buildings.

The development, however, was just the first part of a continuing transformation, with the villa directly adjacent to the approved hotel transformed into a new eCabs garage and offices, while the plot opposite is the subject of an application for a four-storey office block.

Residents argued at the time that the new hotel would lead activity in Paceville to spill over into the area and increase rowdy behaviour outside their homes. They also complained that parking and traffic problems in the narrow road would be exacerbated by the development.