Partit Demokratiku said Wednesday it will be objecting to a development application which will Giardino Zammitello in Pieta replaced by a nine-storey hotel.

The site is adjacent to the gardens of Villa Frere.

The party said it had noted reports of leaked emails which implied that the Prime Minister bypassed the planning process to promise the development of the site. It said it expected the police to investigate. 

The new hotel, it said, would ruin all the voluntary work carried out over the past years by the Friends of Villa Frere to restore one of the most undervalued heritage sites in Malta.

At a time when guardianship legislation has been rolled out to encourage agreements between NGOs and government, this development would run completely contrary to the direction otherwise being encouraged. It would not only ruin the work of volunteers but also destroy priceless heritage in the process, the party said.