A proposed farmhouse close to the protected Victoria Lines is slated for refusal as the Planning Authority this week meets to discuss the ODZ application.
The owners of the land in Triq Għaxqet l-Għajn, overlooking the Għargħur valley, are seeking a permit to demolish an existing disused farm and related rural rooms, and redevelop it into a one-storey farmhouse with a basement.
The 230 square metres site is adjacent to the location where a bomb exploded last May which almost killed Kevin Ellul. Mr Ellul is the applicant for this new dwelling.
The farmhouse would have an external height of 4.3 metres. Previous plans for a swimming pool seem to have been dropped in this application. Instead, the proposal is to plant 30 additional trees.
The plans have been in the making since 1995 when the first application for the construction of a country house with a swimming pool was made, which had been refused. A year later, there had been an attempt to reinstate the existing agricultural room but even this had been refused. It was, however, granted permission at appeals stage and only after an enforcement notice was issued for illegal works.
Ten years later, there was an application to “reinstate pre-1967 habitable rooms” but this time there was an attempt to raise the roof by one course.
Third attempt to try to obtain a permit for a residential unit on this site
The case officer recommended the refusal of this application, insisting that the site on the edge of the valley was within an area designed as a listed ecological area and an agricultural area.
He also noted that the agricultural store approved for reinstatement in 1996 has been doubled, from the original 14.5 square metres to 31 square metres.
He said the proposal could not be considered further unless the illegal development is first sanctioned or removed.
In its objection, the Environment and Resources Authority said this was the third attempt to try to obtain a permit for a residential unit on this site. It noted that from the aerial photos some of the structures had been roofed over and other additional structures had been constructed on site without a permit.
ERA said that the proposed development “does not respect the scale and massing of the original building” and also runs counter to a policy about the general presumption against development on crests and sides of faults, valleys and the coast.
“The permitting of such proposal may also create a precedent for further built-up structures within this area which cumulatively would result in the uptake of land in the countryside for unacceptable urban uses, with consequential additional impacts on the rural landscape and the visual amenity of the area,” ERA said.
Nature Trust also objected to the ODZ application, saying it would lead to further similar developments in an area that lies between the scheduled Victoria Lines and the protected valley.