Naxxar’s minority leader behind care home invading Għargħur countryside

A care home sited outside development zones in Għargħur is being proposed by landowner Marlon Brincat, the Labour minority leader of the Naxxar local council.

The councillor had backed Nationalist mayor Anne-Marie Muscat Fenech Adami during her apparent volte-face in supporting a controversial two-block high-rise on the former trade fair grounds. Brincat is also a board member on the private-public Tech.MT, a promotional arm for MITA and the Chamber of Commerce for the national strategy on innovative technology.

The 60-bed home in Għargħur is being proposed by Brincat, an owner of the installations company CE Group, instead of a disused animal farm, and is located just 200m away from the Golden Care home, also approved ODZ in 2017.

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Anne Marie Muscat Fenech Adami (left) with Marlon Brincat

Naxxxar now hosts the Hilltop Gardens retirement village, the Simblija care home and the Holy Family home.

A design panel from the Planning Authority wants more vegetation and trees to mitigate the undeniable visual impact of a new old people’s home, sited outside the development zone.

The PA’s design advisory committee, which scrutinises designs in sensitive areas, said the new home’s visual impact will have to be mitigated by more trees and “a better articulation of the facades may provide more interest in the massing. The drawings and visuals should be updated accordingly,” chair Dr David Mallia said.

The derelict poultry farm as it stand today

The development’s photomontages indeed show the marked impact on the surrounding landscape as viewed from Triq Andrea Debono, presently dominated by the Mitħna tal-Laqx and the Semaphore Tower right behind the farm. 

The developers believe the derelict animal farm is “committed”, apart from being surrounded by urban pockets of residences. Five years ago, they claimed in a project statement the home would have a positive visual impact, thanks to an enhancing landscape scheme.

The Environment and Resources Authority had objected to the proposal in 2020, reiterating its position against turning rural buildings and land into non-farming uses, as these encourage urban sprawl outside building zones at the expense of countryside. 

Transport Malta also noted the shortcomings due to road safety, and accessibility to the site for both drivers and pedestrians.

The application lay dormant since then, but has been reactivated with the revised plans and photomontages.

Already in 1997, the PA refused the previous owner’s application for a garage development, given its site as a rural conservation area.