The Planning Authority has turned down plans for a small building outside development zones in Wied Għomor to be converted into a residence.

The proposal had been opposed by the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) as well as several NGOs and the San Ġwann local council, which along with neighbouring councils has long opposed development in the scheduled valley.

The Planning Commission voted unanimously on Monday against the plans, which would have created a new residence on the grounds of a large dairy farm, where a permit for another residence was issued just last year.

In its refusal, the board cited the fact that the proposed residence was under the minimum area of 100 square metres for the conversion of buildings of architectural significance into residences.

READ: Wied Għomor is under siege

However, the proposal had also drawn environmental concerns from the ERA, which said it would introduce further urban development and encroachment in Wied Għomor.

The authority also noted that part of the adjacent dairy farm had already been converted into a residence and pool, and that it was unclear whether this development had been carried out legally.

“This piecemeal submission and approvals of such proposals is further introducing residential uses in this farming area, with the added pressure and risks of converting this farming area for residential uses, this is of major environmental concern,” the authority said.

The San Ġwann local council said it would welcome any efforts to improve the state of the farm, but insisted the proposed development would not achieve that goal and ran contrary to the PA’s rural policy.

The farm, the council said, was currently “an unkempt collection of mediocre corrugated sheds and crude stone and concrete hay stores which make no attempt to acknowledge the rural setting around them”.

“Instead of protecting the status of the valley, the proposal seeks to reinforce the urban, almost industrial, nature of the site by consolidating the existing sheds, further jeopardising the protected status of the valley, and attempting to privatise further the land to the exclusion of the public,” the council added.

Urban pressures

Wied Għomor has faced increasing development pressures in recent years, with a disused quarry close to the dairy farm currently the subject of long-running efforts to develop a 133-room retirement home. The plans were rejected by the PA last year and confirmed at appeal, but the developers have since filed a further appeal in court.

Earlier this year, the PA approved a five-floor guesthouse on the valley side in St Julian’s - amending an earlier permit for a smaller villa - as well as a small-scale residential development in another part of the valley.

Environment minister José Herrera has proposed the valley for protection under the Public Domain Act, which would offer a further safeguard against commercialisation and overdevelopment.

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