Updated 11.36am - The Planning Authority on Thursday rejected a development application which would have seen a swimming pool built just metres away from the Brochtorff Circle near the Ġgantija Temples in Gozo.
The application sought to extend an old building located outside development zones in Xagħra, as well as a swimming pool and surrounding paving in the backyard.
The building is just 20 metres away from the Brochtorff Circle (Iċ-Ċirku tax-Xagħra), a Neolithic funerary complex dating back to 4,000BC. The archaeological site, a series of underground caves used to bury the dead, is a Class A scheduled monument and part of the area of archaeological importance surrounding the Ġgantija Temples, some 300 metres away.
The Superintendence for Cultural Heritage strongly objected to the plans, which it said, affect an area of high archaeological sensitivity and one where no development should be permitted.
The plans were incompatible with the rural surroundings
The heritage watchdog recommended that only restoration works be carried out in keeping with accepted conservation standards, guidelines and practices should be allowed on the site.
Heritage organisations Din L-Art Ħelwa, Wirt Għawdex and the Archaeological Society of Malta are also objecting.
The Environment and Resources Authority raised its own concerns over the increase in the building’s size and the take-up of undeveloped land for the swimming pool and decking.
The authority said the plans were incompatible with the rural surroundings and would set an “undesirable precedent for similar future development which cumulatively would lead to the significant overall change in the appearance of the surroundings and wider context”.
The application was brought before the PA board in May, when concerns were raised over the building’s size and form. The project architect revised the plans to reduce the impact, but according to an updated case officer’s report, the revisions do not do enough to address the objections to the development.
Therefore, the case officer recommended that the PA board reject the proposal due to the “significant impact on the rural character of the existing building” and the effect on the two nearby archaeological sites.