23-room hotel approved in Wied Għomor

Just a month ago the planning commission had indicated it will refuse the permit for a guesthouse in Wied Għomor, but today, board members thought otherwise.

On 3 March, only two members of the commission were present - architect Simon Saliba and Carmel Caruana – after Elizabeth Ellul, who chairs the commission, attended a planning board meeting. The commission deemed the development to be in breech of the rural policy that bans "developments which would have an adverse impact on important landscape features".

The board is obliged by law to postpone its vote to another meeting whenever it intends to overturn a recommendation made by the case officer. The case officer had made a favourable recommendation.

But in today’s meeting, Saliba was outvoted after Ellul and architect Mariello Spiteri voted in favour.

The board’s decision came in the wake of changes to the plans presented by the applicant that minimised the visual impact of the development by reducing the area covered by glass.

The site of the guesthouse, which was previously occupied by a garage of 60 square metres, is located outside the building zone in St Julian’s on the valley side between the Tigullio complex and the Mikiel Anton Vassalli bridge.

The site itself abuts a garage and an existing two-storey building, but its development is expected to visually dominate the valley according to the Environment and Resources Authority, which objected to the development.

A previous application for residential development on the same site, presented by a different owner had been refused in 2011. The goalposts have since changed with the approval of the new rural policy guidelines in 2014.

In 2015, the Planning Authority granted a permit to demolish the garage and build a 200-square metre villa with pool and semi-basement garage. The development never started.

Front Harsien ODZ said the two-stage exercise used by the developer to apply for a permit was a "piecemeal approach" intended to approve development in this area. The Swieqi local council also objected to the proposal.