The Planning Authority has approved the building of a four-storey apartment block adjacent to a scheduled Tarxien villa formerly belonging to Dom Mintoff after the developers revised their original plans.
The application to demolish a terraced house and build a block of apartments and maisonettes had been set for rejection as it would create “an additional extensive blank party wall overlooking a site of historic and architectural importance”.
The case against the proposal was strengthened when the villa, known as The Olives, was granted Grade 1 scheduling, the highest possible level of protection and one usually reserved for national monuments, safeguarding both the building and its setting.
However, the developer was allowed to submit revised plans, reducing the building height on one part of the development, fronting Triq ix-Xintill, and shifting the height to Joanne Garden, at another end of the site.
The new plans were deemed acceptable and the PA board voted by eight to one in favour of the application today.
Environment and Resources Authority chairman Victor Axiak was the sole vote against, citing the visual impact on the scheduled property.
Yana Bland Mintoff, Dom Mintoff’s daughter and the villa’s current occupant, maintained her objections to the development even after the plans were revised.
In a representation to the PA, her architect wrote: “My client's property has been scheduled in its entirely, and hence the argument [of shifting building heights] makes no sense at all, given also that the frontage on Joanne Garden abuts properties which are all low-lying in nature.
“It is unexplainable how having a higher building height on Joanne Garden is deemed as a compensatory measure, when the proposed development is still adjacent to a scheduled building.”
Dr Bland Mintoff also argued that access to the planned underground garage would be through Joanne Garden, “thus threatening the tranquility and safety of elderly and young people who currently enjoy the one open green space remaining within a large expanse of Raħal Ġdid and Tarxien.”
The Superintendence for Cultural Heritage did not respond to the PA’s consultation request, and was therefore taken to have no objections to the development.
Representing the developer, lawyer Ian Stafrace insisted during the hearing that the PA had to achieve a balance between the rights of the applicant and those of the villa’s owners.
He stressed that the scheduling decision had been made during the application process and did not include a buffer zone, and that the proposal was in line with the height limitations set out in planning policy.