Mosta windmill: five-storey block targets farmhouse

A five-storey block consisting of nine apartments, two penthouses with two pools and eight garages, is being proposed instead of a vernacular building in the vicinity of the San Silvestru windmill in the ta’ Mellu area of Mosta.

The development, proposed inside the buffer that protects the Grade-1 scheduled San Silvestru windmill, is located just 22m away from the windmill.

But the farmhouse earmarked for demolition is in a relatively good state of preservation and according to the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage, deemed to have a degree of architectural and cultural heritage value.

The SCH has also expressed its concern that the planning application was lodged in the form of a summary application, the system introduced by the Labour administration in 2016 to fast-track applications for apartment blocks of less than 16 units when these are within the building zones and outside urban conservation areas.

Summary procedures can allow permits to be issued within six weeks, with public consultation periods reduced from three to two weeks.

But a circular introduced by environment minister Aaron Farrugia in 2020 requires that any application within the buffer zones of scheduled buildings, has to be submitted to a more stringent process and consultation with the SCH.

Since the application is still at vetting stage, the PA can still refer the application to the full permitting process, instead of the summary process requested by the developer.

The Superintendence further expressed concern at the proposed total demolition of the vernacular farmhouse, noting that very limited drawings and photographs were presented for assessment. The Superintendence called for the application to be referred for full process to ensure more “engagement” with the developer.

The SCH also expressed concern at the intensity and design of the proposed development. “Such a proposal does not respect the values of the existing building and contributes to the ongoing insensitive redefinition of the streetscape.” Noting that the building is located within a mixed streetscape, affected by recent permits and contemporary development, the vernacular building still gives “a degree of legibility to the street.”

In 2019 the PA approved a zoning application to allow five-storey development on 36,000sq.m of land that had been included in the infamous 2006 building zones extension. The proposed development will include two public open spaces, together amounting to 1,839sq.m; while 22,000sq.m will be developed and the rest of the site will be taken up by roads and front gardens.

The PA is also considering another zoning application on 40,000sq.m of agricultural land that separates Mosta from the Durumblat Road in Attard, known as tad-Dib also added to development boundaries in 2006.

In this way Mosta is facing an onslaught both because of the “rationalisation exercise” carried out by the PN administration on the building zones, and planning reforms facilitating the development of five-storey blocks in every nook and cranny, by the present Labour administration.

The government recently announced plans for a public garden on a 4,000 square metre government owned field in Mosta where the fugitive murderer Ċikku Fenech ta’ Vanġiela once lived.