Developers have revived an old application to “extend” a disused cemetery over a large area of agricultural land in the limits of Siġġiewi, to the concern of environmental authorities.
The Ta’ Brija Cemetery, close to Girgenti, was once used to bury plague victims and has been abandoned and overgrown with vegetation for at least 50 years.
Paul Gauci first applied in 2006 to carry out restoration works, build a prayer room and store, and extend the cemetery over 11,000 square metres of mostly agricultural land, which would be largely paved over. The proposed extension has since been downsized to 3,600 square metres.
The application has progressed in stops and starts since then, but the Times of Malta is informed that it is now being pushed forward once more, and fresh drawings were uploaded to the PA server on April 6.
Significant take-up of land
Environmental concerns were first raised back in 2011 by the former Environment Protection Directorate (EPD), which said the proposal was not “an extension to a currently existing cemetery but rather the construction of a new cemetery”.
The EPD said the proposal was “disproportionately large” and would entail a significant take-up of land “at the expense of a relatively pristine rural landscape characterised by open agricultural fields”.
It said the proposal also increased the risk of contamination of nearby watercourses, and would negatively impact the scenic value of the site and of the surrounding countryside.
The ERA continued these objections in 2014, insisting the reactivation of a historic cemetery could not be used as “justification for excessive development in relatively open countryside” and that the project would create pressure for similar developments in sensitive countryside areas.
The authority also noted that despite the reduction in the size of the extension, the proposed boundary wall encircled the entire 11,000 square metre site, “committing the entire area for the current and further development”.
PA policy allows extensions to historic cemeteries provided that such development would not have “a negative impact on the character of its setting”.
However, the Siġġiewi local council argued during a public consultation on the policy, in 2014, that no extension or development should be allowed at the cemetery or its surrounding area, and that the historical value of the cemetery should be protected through restoration and conservation.