Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1260266
maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 17 JUNE 2020 LAURA CALLEJA TEN organisations have submitted a detailed objection to the Planning Authority in connection with the DB Group's City Centre project at St George's Bay. The groups said that despite the company's aggressive public relations campaign, a thorough review of the revised plans reveal that the project remains virtually the same. "If ap- proved, the tower and the hotel would engulf surrounding localities and their residents under massive structures as well as further push Paceville towards residential areas. The project also re- mains as damaging to the surrounding natural environment as it was before the revised plans," the groups said. The DB Group has said it has re- duced the massing and scale of its high-rise tower and neighbouring Hard Rock hotel. The NGOs have highlighted a num- ber of planning policies breached by the proposed plan for the ex-ITS site. "The exaggerated massing, volume and height of the proposed develop- ment are out of context. It highlighted that the proposed hotel tower – 64m high – and the residential tower – 112.25m tall – by no means respect the topography and surrounding con- text," the groups said, adding that the shadowing from the building will have a deleterious effect on residences. "Moreover, the objectors underline the detrimental impact on cultural heritage. The visual integrity of the Grade 2 Scheduled St George's Bar- racks is highly endangered and no "Character Appraisal" of the context was carried out (in breach of Circular 3/20). Extensive and extremely risky rock-cutting will take place near the Grade 1 scheduled cave system of Ħarq Ħamiem, and within the 'Buff- er/Constraint Zone' of the same cave system," the group said. The NGOs said there is no indica- tion of whether the studies on its ge- ological structure and vulnerability have been undertaken, and if so, on what data these studies were based on. It said that it was also unclear what would happen to the Cold War bunker discovered through research carried out. "A major concern relates to the ex- cessive amount of traffic, noise and pollution the development will gener- ate in the area. There are no updated Traffic Impact Assessments providing a holistic overview as to whether the current road infrastructure is suffi- cient to contain the increased traffic generated by the proposed project." The group warned the application did not include "the infamous tun- nel" being touted by the DB Group as the solution to the traffic generated by the project. "Moreover, a tunnel which is not funded by the developer is in breach of the Floor to Area Ratio policy; this policy requires applicants to contribute to the costs of measures implemented to accommodate the burdens and inconveniences generat- ed by the development." Other concerns include breaches of Local Plan policies and a number of environmental considerations, in- cluding the excessive generation of inert waste and the lack of updated Environmental and Social Impact As- sessments. The groups said they had requested a physical hearing by the Planning Au- thority board, "since a virtual online hearing is no substitute for a physical hearing where the people can voice their opinion in line with their right to participate fully in the decision-mak- ing process." Objectors want physical Planning Authority hearing on DB Group's City Centre