Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1473070
9 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 13 JULY 2022 ODZ old people's home proposed on Gharb farmland JAMES DEBONO AN old people's home is being proposed on a 5300 sq.m plot of agricultural land sprawling from the edge of the development zone along Triq il-Blat in to the surrounding ODZ fields in an area known as il-Gidi in the small Gozitan village of Gharb. The proposed develop- ment consisting of 94 rooms as well as outside and inside pools, a gym, clinics and a chapel is being proposed by Emmanuel Joseph Farrugia, a property developer and owner of Prime Care Lim- ited which currently runs St Elizabeth Home in Rabat, Malta. This represents a third at- tempt by the Farrugia fam- ily to develop the site as an old people's home. The first attempt dates back to 1994 and was re- jected by the Planning Au- thority in 1996. The deci- sion was confirmed by an appeal's tribunal in 2001 which concluded that the development constituted an urban sprawl in the ODZ. Another application was presented in 2008 only to be withdrawn 10 years later. As proposed the project consists of an underground parking level which also in- cludes a mortuary, six levels of rooms and a dining area on the seventh level. Due to the levelling of the site, five of the seven proposed levels will be located below street level. In fact the outside pool is being proposed in one of the 'basement' levels. The details of the applica- tion presented in February were only published on the Planning Authority's pub- lic information system last week as previously the ap- plication was deemed to be incomplete. But the Environment and Resources Authority has already warned that home including other ancillary interventions will be en- croaching significantly be- yond the development zone boundary. "The proposal would result in take-up of open rural land for the pur- pose of introduction of an urban-type land use on a site which is characterised by arable fields" Moreover the project will contribute to an urban sprawl which would result in adverse impact on the ru- ral landscape. The PA's advisory panel on agricultural issues is al- so objecting by saying that it objects in principle to any proposal in rural areas which is not contemplat- ed in the rural policy and which is not for agricultural purpose. The Strategic Plan for the Environment and Devel- opment allows the devel- opment of elderly homes and health facilities in the ODZ but only if develop- ers had previously consid- ered other sites within the development zone or in already committed areas. Developers are also obliged to publish a site selection study showing why other sites in built up areas were excluded. So far only one residential home has been approved under this poli- cy, namely the Golden Care home developed by GAP Limited in Naxxar. Third time lucky? Application represents third attempt to develop site into an elderly home in past three decades