Council concerned over retirement home and mall in Naxxar quarry

The Naxxar Local Council has expressed serious reservations about a proposed mixed-use development on the site of a quarry off Labour Avenue.

The project, outlined in a planning application filed by Carmel Vella Limited, seeks to transform the site, currently hosting concrete and asphalt batching plants, into a sprawling complex featuring industrial, commercial, and residential care facilities as well as open spaces.

In a letter to the Planning Authority (PA), the council emphasised the need for careful consideration of the project’s impact on the surrounding area, particularly given its location within a designated Strategic Open Gap (SOG). While acknowledging the site is already developed, the council warned that approving such a large-scale project could set a precedent for further development in the adjoining lands, potentially threatening the safeguarding of the SOG in the wider region.

The proposed development includes extensive warehousing facilities below ground level, retail and restaurant spaces with outdoor seating, a five-storey residential care home and clinic. A car park with 625 bays and external landscaped parks and piazzas are also part of the plans.

The council also highlighted the need for a comprehensive transport impact assessment to address traffic implications, given the site’s proximity to the Higher Secondary school complex. Concerns were raised about the strain the development could place on service infrastructure networks.

This proposal is part of a broader trend of redeveloping quarries and batching plants located outside the development zone. Similar projects include a shopping mall and supermarket proposed in a rural area of Ħaż-Żebbuġ and another mall approved behind the Lidl supermarket in Għaxaq.

If approved, the care home for the elderly would become the fourth such facility in Naxxar in the past two decades.