Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1237083
11 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 19 APRIL 2020 NEWS come crashing shuts doors special gastronomic adventure. "I am positive that after all this is over, all the team at Under Grain will come back stronger to give our guests the ultimate expe- rience that I am sure we are all lacking at this time. Stay strong, we will be back." AX Group's hospitality director Claire Zammit Xuereb, whose Rosselli Hotel in Valletta hosts Under Grain, says the downtime is a period of reflection for the the restaurant. "This pandem- ic is more than unfortunate not only to businesses but also to humanity. It certainly is helping us reflect how we can make our- selves better people, internally, on all levels," she said. But the circumstances of the shutdown have been emotion- ally trying. "From an emotional and psychological side, this has certainly affected us. Closing down businesses goes against our nature. We cultivated a cul- ture where together, we grow our operations and challenge the norms… having to put our babies to sleep has been devas- tating, to say the least," Zammit Xuereb said. "People in our industry wake up to make a better day for everyone. Depriving us from our passion to serve others is very similar to a grieving process. It creates a big void in our daily lives. I assure you that people like me, who have a great pas- sion for this industry, have shed tears realising they could no longer function." And being forced to tempo- rarily close the doors to Under Grain, which she describes as AX's "most special baby", was immensely difficult. "It had just started to shine. It is so conflicting when you just re- ceive an award of a lifetime and want to celebrate this achieve- ment, but instead you are bound to keep it to yourself. "One can just imagine the pain for the entire team who worked so hard not just to open a new restaurant, but with such high standard to the point of achiev- ing a Michelin Star." Like Borg, she too remains pos- itive and sees the silver lining, however. "Our baby is having some good beauty sleep. It has skipped its crawling stage and is now preparing itself for toddler- hood – ready to walk." mcosta@mediatoday.com.mt Under Grain executive chef Victor Borg Photo: James Bianchi JAMES DEBONO A new, three-storey home for the elderly is being proposed just 200 metres away from an- other home in the so called 'strategic open gap' that lies be- tween Naxxar and Gharghur. The Environment and Re- sources Authority is objecting to the proposal, which will re- place a disused rural building with a 2,700sq.m home in what is land outside the development zones on Triq San Gwann, Naxxar. The local plan prohibits any urban development, except for small scale utility infrastruc- ture, and the area is also iden- tified as an area of agricultural value, being surrounded by open agricultural land. The developers say the com- plex was formerly used as a broiler farm. The other old people's home was granted planning permis- sion in 2017. An environmen- tal impact assessment had then warned the development would severely impact the surround- ing landscape, and was object- ed to by the ERA, which said it would give rise to a precedent for similar developments within the rural area. But despite ERA's negative recommendation, the develop- ment permit was still issued. Now the ERA is saying the latest proposal vindicates its position against the development ap- proved in 2017. "Once a permit is granted for an urban develop- ment outside the development zone, similar consequential de- velopment will follow. These open up development pressures in the surrounding area result- ing in a cumulative impact on the environment, within a small radius." The site in question is even more geographically distant from the development limits, which the ERA says will mean a more significant and extensive impact than the completed el- derly home. ERA is insisting the proposal does not merit further assess- ment through EIA studies. "It is wrong in principle, creating unacceptable impacts like rural land uptake, intensification and proliferation of physical devel- opment and site formalization at the expense of the country- side." The owner and developer of the site, Marlon Brincat, has been involved in elderly care op- erations for the past ten years. The proposal is directed at ca- tering for the ongoing demand for care homes due to Malta's increasingly ageing population. While the area in question is located outside development zones, the owner says the site is a "committed urban devel- opment area" which he wants developed into "more econom- ically feasible land use… Every effort will be made to ensure that the new development will contribute to, rather than de- tract from, the environmental integrity of the surrounding land uses." The proposed development will provide parking for visitors, and a landscaping scheme. The Strategic Plan for Envi- ronment and Planning permits the development of old people's homes in ODZ as long as a se- quential approach is used and sites within development zones are first considered. A site se- lection exercise carried by the developers is still unavailable to the public. The Naxxar home proposed outside development zones is a former broiler farm site outside the development zones, and just 200m from the Golden Care home (below) for the elderly which ERA had already warned would set precedent for further development Naxxar elderly home: ERA warned of precedent