Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1465732
6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 24 APRIL 2022 NEWS JAMES DEBONO A new quarry is being proposed over a 6,200sq.m plot of agri- cultural land at Bengħajsa, in Birżebbuġa. The lower coralline quarry is proposed in an area recognised for landscape value, just off Triq il-Fortizza less than 200m away from the shoreline. If approved, the quarry will touch on the buffer zone of an Area of Ecological Importance just 300m away from the pri- vately-owned Bengħajsa fort, which is currently in a dilapidat- ed state. The quarry is being proposed by Paul Falzon, who owns a number of other quarries in Dingli and Rabat. Falzon does not own the land in question but was granted consent by the landowners to apply. In the past years the Planning Authority has issued a number of permits related to agriculture on the same site. The site formed part of an area between Hal Far and the Free- port designated as a 'primary development area' in the 1960s for possible eventual industrial use. The Structure Plan con- firmed the designation, subject to a policy which delays use of this land until needs arise which cannot be accommodated else- where. Since then, the Struc- ture Plan was superseded by the SPED, which designates the site as an Area of Landscape Protec- tion. Coralline limestone (hard- stone) is more difficult to quarry than soft limestone and requires blasting operations. Hardstone is usually used for the prepa- ration of cement, for concrete mixing and for roadbeds. The stone is then processed into fragments by crushing machines and then sorted according to the particle size. The Minerals Subject Plan of 2002 states that hardstone quar- ries are mostly found alongside the west and northwest cost of Malta, as well as in the central areas alongside Wied il-Għasel and Naxxar. Malta's largest hardstone quar- ry, owned by Charles Polidano, is located at Lapsi next to the coastal cliffs at Ix-Xaqqa bor- dering the Irdumijiet ta' Malta Special Area of Conservation (SAC). JAMES DEBONO THE Westin Dragonara hotel wants the Planning Author- ity to change zoning rules in Paceville, and extend the 'en- tertainment priority area' to its parking area behind the old boundary wall on Triq id-Drag- onara facing the coastline. A substantial part of the 8,800sq.m site had been zoned for a four-storey residential development in the 2006 local plan. But in 2021, the PA re-zoned the Westin's parking area for mixed-use development: 33% for offices, 55% for a hotel, and 10% for residential use, and just 2% for food and beverage establishments. That zoning application al- so foresaw an extension of the protected area immediately abutting the coastline, with a transitional zone for low-key leisure uses. But in their latest request, the Westin wants to re-designate the area allocated for office, res- idential and hotel development into an "entertainment priority area" – that is, extending Pace- ville's entertainment hub to the residential area along part of Triq Dragonara, Triq il-Wilga and Triq il-Knisja. A number of protected townhouses are located immediately opposite the proposed development. Such a designation would permit a wider range of allowa- ble uses: dwellings, restaurants, bars, hostels, retail, supermar- kets, dance halls, clubs and amusement arcades. Offices would be limited to small-scale developments. The application does not re- quest a change in the height limitation prevailing in the ar- ea. Peninsula Holdings, whose directors include four major business groups – namely Paul and Carmel Polidano, Mark and Francis Portelli, Charles and Gianluca Borg, and Ber- nard and Anthony Gauci, de- clared full ownership of the site. During the 2021 discussions at the PA on the rezoning, Pen- insula's architect declared that the company's intention was to develop the site "holistical- ly" with the Westin Dragonara, so as to have more flexibility in the design of the full develop- ment application. Residents living along Triq id-Dragonara had expressed concern that the mixed-use development would worsen "social misbehaviour and noise pollution" in the area. They also insisted that any develop- ment in the area should not ex- ceed the height of the existing boundary wall. Paceville's townhouse row faces Westin expansion Hardstone quarry proposed at Benghajsa The quarry is being proposed by Paul Falzon, who owns a number of other quarries in Dingli and Rabat. Falzon does not own the land in question but was granted consent by the landowners to apply