Prime Minister’s villa: Din l-Art Ħelwa objects, Superintendence asks for photomontages

The Superintendence for Cultural Heritage is waiting for photomontages to assess the visual impact of the proposed reconstruction of the Prime Minister’s villa along Triq Xrobb l-Għagin in Żejtun, 18m away from the historical Saint Nicholas chapel and within the buffer zone for the Ħal Ġinwi Site of Archaeological Importance.

The PM recently applied to demolish the existing villa and its animal enclosures, which were regularised by the Planning Authority in 2017, to construct a replacement villa on two levels, a basement garage, a pool and extensive landscaping.

As is standard in applications in archaeologically sensitive areas, the cultural heritage watchdog has warned of the risk that ground disturbance in this area may uncover cultural heritage features that may necessitate amendments to the proposed plans.

Any approved development will require that works are archaeologically monitored in keeping with the terms of reference issued by the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage.

The SCH also issued its clearance for the demolition of the existing structure, noting that it is not worthy of preservation. The Environment and Resources Authority also issued its clearance for the proposed works noting that the proposed interventions will be limited to the existing committed footprint, it has “no major environmental concerns” on the proposed development.

But conservation group Din l-Art Ħelwa is strongly objecting to the proposed excavations of a basement level and a pool in the buffer zone of a Class A archaeological site.

While the SCH has called for archaeological monitoring during the works, DLĦ is insisting that an archaeological study of the site should be carried out before any works are approved.

Din l-Art Ħelwa also objected to the formalisation of ODZ land “through requests that can neither be deemed necessary nor justified and which stand to threaten the integrity of the rural environment.”

A landscaping plan presented by Abela’s architect foresees the planting of nine new trees and the relocation of nine existing trees.

The Prime Minister and his wife bought the villa in July 2017 from an elderly couple, days after the PA sanctioned multiple illegalities on the site. The Abelas bought the sprawling property, named Ċinja, at a bargain price of €600,000.

The previous owners of the villa had been precluded from selling it, in a case characterised by conflicting policies and planning interpretations.

Abela was at the time the chief lawyer to the Planning Authority when in April 2017, the PA’s planning commission approved owner Joseph Camilleri’s request to ‘regularise’ illegal alterations and additions to the dwelling.

The permit included no involvement of the PA’s legal office and during the March election Abela denied exercising any influence on the authority to regularise the illegalities.

The existing property is divided into a 354sq.m main building and a further 91sq.m of rooms built along Triq Xrobb l-Għaġin.

The new proposal concentrates the villa on a 237sq.m footprint with an overlying floor on the area occupied by the present building.  In this way the same floor area of 444sq.m will be retained over a smaller footprint.   

A pool surrounded by a grass area will be constructed on an existing landscaped area which currently includes a wooden gazebo. Areas currently occupied by a duck pool, an existing swimming pool and the existing rooms along the road will be replaced by landscaped areas. Moreover 16 new trees will be planted while 9 existing trees re-located.

Illegal works carried out before 1994

The unauthorised works on the villa had been carried out before 1994 and then regularised by the PA’s planning commission in 2017 just three months before the property was bought by Abela.

The illegal extensions had doubled the size of the farmhouse to 352sq.m, when such ODZ (outside development zone) buildings could only be extended up to a maximum 200sq.m floor area.

The PA’s case officer, who recommended approval, recognised that the scale of the additions was the main issue with regularisation, given that the total floor area of the existing building exceeded the 200sq.m allowance.

But the case officer justified approval, on the basis of a Rural Policy clause allowing extensions carried out before October 1994 to be regularised “if the extension does not visually dominate the existing dwelling” and if these are considered “acceptable in the wider landscape”.

Moreover, the case officer also refers to “steel sheds” on an area of 440sq.m which were removed between 1994 and 1998, arguing their removal over 20 years ago to make way for landscaping, made the sanctioning of the illegally-built structures “acceptable”.

Since a store proposed for sanctioning was located at a lower level from the rest of the building, the case officer felt it did not visually dominate the site.

As often happens in similar cases involving ODZ dwellings, the favourable recommendation was based on an interpretation of conflicting policies by the case officer.