The St Julian’s local council is to formally object to a 24-storey hotel just metres from the protected Wied Għomor Valley.
Despite being in a development zone, the towering hotel will ruin the aesthetics of the area and will also jar with its surroundings, the council is insisting.
The council voted to formally object following a request tabled by St Julian’s deputy mayor Albert Buttigieg, who found cross-party support for his proposal.
The site, measuring just over 3,000 square metres, is in Triq Mikiel Anton Vassalli, corner with Triq Mikiel Ang Borg, the slip road to Spinola Bay just outside the Regional Road tunnel. The area is not Outside Development Zone.
The development, being proposed by Tum Invest, an offshoot company of the Tumas Group, proposes a three-storey car park and an overlying hotel over 24 storeys. There are no details about the number of guest rooms and other ancillary facilities being proposed such as a pool and an outdoor area. The application simply says “with related amenities”.
The Planning Authority’s Design Advisory Committee said that “the extensive height of the proposed structure will negatively impact the surrounding properties and landscape”.
It said it would comment further once the planning application progresses.
Transport Malta told the Planning Authority that the development permit required a Traffic Impact Assessment before it could officially give its views on the proposal.
I do hope that common sense prevails and no more green land will be taken
According to objections re-ceived so far by the Planning Authority, residents are opposing the proposed development be-cause it was eating away at Wied Għomor, a protected valley.
Objectors claimed that the site hosts a number of indigenous and native trees such as cypresses, carob trees and almond trees.
“I do hope that common sense prevails and no more green land will be taken for speculative reasons,” one objector said.
Another objector said the maximum height of buildings in the area was of three floors.
“The traffic under the bridge in the mornings is already present and building and this will just exacerbate the situation,” he told the Times of Malta.
“This proposal is crazy. The fact that people have the audacity to even apply for such a permit shows that there is a serious problem. The local council is against it and so are the residents.
“For once please just keep us residents in mind.”