Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1387622
15 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 JUNE 2021 NEWS JAMES DEBONO A wedding hall at Wied Babu in Zurrieq wants the green light to replace its current premises with eight bungalows for tourist accommodation, each with their own pool and terrace area, and a 12-bedroom guest- house with common pool. Baldacchino Holdings has presented plans to demolish the existing Garden of Eden complex, this time excluding large make-shift illegal car park that has been subject to an enforcement order issued 20 years ago. Its regularisation has now been withdrawn following strong oppo- sition from Zurrieq residents. Instead the developers have present- ed another application to plant an olive grove on the site of the car park. Al- though referred to the Planning Authori- ty's "direct action" unit, the illegality was never removed. It was the Zurrieq local council which had demanded a written contract to re- store the illegal car park to its natural state "after twenty years of environmen- tal abuse and at the expense of the cul- prit". In a submission to the Planning Author- ity in May, Zurrieq mayor Rita Grima called for an assessment of the permits and conditions for the different compo- nents of the Garden of Eden complex, before taking a definitive stance on the development being proposed. Objectors to the project, which include Moviment Graffitti, insist the current eyesore should not justify the develop- ment being proposed now. One of the objectors pointed out that plans include a new road for cars, which passes over his private land. Existing development – the Eden Lodge, the Cottage Gardens and the Garden of Eden nightclub – cover a built-up foot- print of over 1,600sq.m. The proposed bungalows will occupy exactly the same footprint but also an additional 790sq.m of private paved areas and 1,100sq.m of public paved areas. The westernmost part of the site pres- ently includes abandoned agricultural terraces and a derelict old farmhouse. The permits for the wedding hall and disco predate the Planning Authority and the designation of Wied Babu as an Area of Ecological Importance and Spe- cial Area of Conservation. The developers say the existing trees in the area will be retained and an addition- al 150 will be planted. Once operational, the project will result in a reduction in noise pollution from the complex's cur- rent use as a wedding hall and disco. They also claim that they have part- nered with the University of Malta to integrate the development in a wider environmental management project to incorporate Wied Babu, most of which is also owned by the Baldacchino family. The Environment and Resources Au- thority is still screening the application, which has been temporarily suspended by the developer. The applicants refer to the rural policy approved in 2014 to jus- tify the development. Zurrieq Garden of Eden seeks new permit for bungalows, private pools and guesthouse Olive grove now proposed on site of illegal car park previously identified for bungalows