PA set to approve 13 villas in Maghtab ODZ

The Planning Authority’s Development Management Directorate is recommending the approval of a proposal to build 13 two-storey villas on the site of an abandoned farm in Maghtab.

The development over 7,770sq.m is being proposed in the vicinity of the old Santa Marija chapel on a site located to the east of Burmarrad and west of Bahar ic-Caghaq.

Although the area is in an outside development zone, the development is being justified based on an amendment made to the local plan in 2016 that defined the area as an ODZ settlement.

The Environment and Resources Authority had objected to the proposal, warning that the proposed works would lead to intensification of development in the area, further take-up of undeveloped land and a sprawl of urban uses within an ODZ area.

ERA had also warned that approval of this development may cause pressure to approve similar interventions elsewhere within the rural area.

The 13 villas will have a built-up footprint of 2,028sq.m while swimming pools will occupy a further 920sq.m.

A new road will take up a further 1,227sq.m while the remaining 3,525sq.m will be landscaped. All the villas are being proposed on separate plots of around 500sq.m each.

The Central Malta Local Plan approved in 2006 had referred to the emergence of a residential rural cluster which was to be zoned as a ‘Category 2 ODZ Rural Settlement’.

However, the extents of this settlement had not been defined within the Local Plan. The boundaries of the rural hamlet were subsequently defined in a partial review of the local plan approved in 2016.

The local plan limits development in such rural settlements to a footprint of 150sq.m and a floor space of 200sq.m and specifies that any development must respect the character of the settlement and its surrounding rural environment.

A final decision is to be taken by the Planning Board on 12 October.