Naxxar local council objects to ‘outrageous’ elderly home on Birguma farmland

The Naxxar local council has objected to what it called an “outrageous” application for an elderly home and 104-car parking area to be built on rural farmland outside the building zones in Birguma.

The elderly home is being proposed on 9,325sq.m of farmland along Triq Wied Anglu at the corner with Triq il-Vittmi tan-Nar, Naxxar, in close vicinity to the Victoria Lines and the Birguma quarry, which overlook the Gharghur countryside. 

The area is designated as a Strategic Open Gap in the local plans, where urban development is prohibited except for small-scale utility infrastructure.

“The proposed elderly care home in ODZ not only represents an unjustified intrusion into a protected rural area but also undermines the very foundations of sustainable development and environmental protection that Malta is committed to upholding,” the Naxxar local council said.

Besides the council’s objection, over 500 representations have been filed by members of the public against the proposed project as well.

“This application egregiously disregards national and international environmental protection policies, violates fundamental planning laws, and breaches procedural safeguards established to protect Malta's rural landscape from unsustainable development,” the council said in its objection letter, filed with the Planning Authority on Wednesday.

The council said that the application breaches the Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development (SPED), the Central Malta Local Plan, the Rural Policy and Design Guidance, several procedural requirements of Development Planning Regulations, and European Union and International Environmental Regulations.

The SPED mandates the protection of rural areas from urban encroachment. The council said the applicant “has not provided any site selection exercise, nor have they justified why this development, typically suited for an urban area, is being proposed in an ODZ.”

The SPED also dictates that elderly care facilities must be sited in urban locations to ensure accessibility to essential services and transport. “The proposed development's location in a remote rural area, far removed from services, undermines this policy, contributing to urban sprawl and placing undue pressure on Malta's rural landscape.”

The council said the plans will “significantly alter the rural character of the area, introducing urban features that are incompatible with the surrounding environment” and also risking an urban sprawl which will threaten the preservation of rural land that is “critical for both agriculture and biodiversity.”

The council said the applicant had not presented all the necessary documentation – such as a site selection exercise, environmental impact assessment, or biodiversity surveys, had not presented a justification as to why the application is being planned for ODZ land, and had not notified and engaged with stakeholders - such as the council itself – about the development.

The Planning Authority has already approved two elderly homes in ODZ areas in Naxxar in the last seven years, with the most recent being one proposed by PL local councillor Marlon Brincat instead of an abandoned far, less than half a kilometre away from this application. That application was approved, but the decision has been appealed by environmental NGOs.