Another patch of Valley road greenery under threat

Plans have been submitted for the development of 13, five-storey blocks on an 18,750sq.m site presently characterised by terraced fields and trees set between Valley Road behind the Charles Grech outlet, and Triq Indri Grima in Swatar.

The massive site – the size of three football grounds – had been added to development zones in the infamous extension of boundaries carried out in 2006.

A zoning application to establish building heights and the extent of road development was first submitted in 2017 and is still being processed by the Planning Authority, with the latest plans being presented a few days ago.

When the site was included in development boundaries a condition was imposed stating that development should consist of “low density detached buildings” limited to the “lower” 50% of the site, with “the rest being retained as open space”. The development had to include water reservoirs to buffer rainwater runoff from higher ground levels.

But building development is now being proposed both in the upper and lower parts of the site, with open spaces being interspersed in different areas of the site.

The latest plans designate 51% of the site as “public open spaces”, 8.5% for roads and pavements and 40.2% for buildings. This represents a decrease in the built-up area from 9,360 sq.m as proposed in earlier plans submitted in 2018, to 7,535sq.m.

The development will involve substantial excavation in a way that the 15-m high blocks will rise 1.4m above the level of Triq Indri Grima.

The open spaces include two soft landscaped areas above underground car parks, one set along Triq Indri Grima and another along a new road facing the ODZ. David Grech, a shareholder in a number of real estate companies, is proposing the development.

The development is being proposed opposite another development on the other side of Valley Road consisting of an 11-storey development next to a public staircase in one of the last remnants of the valley.

Another massive development is being proposed on fields in Swatar in the vicinity of Saint Martin’s college.