Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1477650
8 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 31 AUGUST 2022 JAMES DEBONO A planning application has been filed for the construction of a supermarket and apartments on a field in Għajnsielem that lies mostly outside the development zone. The proposed development on agricul- tural land covering 7,500sq.m along Triq l-Imgarr is for three levels of basement parking, a supermarket and three over- lying levels of 10 apartments and a plant nursery with green houses. Only 1,000sq.m of the site is located in the development zone. The eastern corner of the site was added to the development zone in the notorious rationalisation of building boundaries in 2006. The proposed development is located within 38m of the remains of two Neo- lithic huts discovered and excavated in 1987 next to a house which was being con- structed. Most of the site is designated as an archaeological buffer zone. While the supermarket and overlying apartments are being proposed on the smaller part of the site added to the devel- opment zone in 2006 the car park's ramp and a 750sq.m store protrude in the adja- cent ODZ. A 3,352sq.m plant nursery which would entail covering most of the site with green houses, is also being proposed entirely on the ODZ area. The development is being proposed by Prestige Services Ltd, a company owned by Gozitan developer Francesco Raniero Grima. The area was zoned for 12.3-metre-high residential development in a planning con- trol application approved in 2019. Initially EMVIC Ltd, owned by Victor Attard and Emidio Azzopardi, had wanted to earmark the site for commercial devel- opment but the PA insisted that commer- cial development was not appropriate. But now, Prestige Services Ltd which has declared owning the whole site. The Superintendence for Cultural Her- itage has already warned that the area is of considerable archaeological sensitivity being 38m from the 'neolithic domestic structures' and that further surviving ar- chaeological remains may be found under the extensive soil cover. The SCH has already expressed its con- cern at the considerable intensification of development. The Cultural Heritage watchdog has also warned that extensive excavation as proposed would "inevitably destroy surviving features on site". The SCH has called for an archaeological evaluation of the site before any permit is issued. The Environment and Resources Au- thority is also objecting to the develop- ment and has warned that the interven- tions proposed beyond the development zone are of environmental concern since these will result in the significant uptake of undeveloped rural land and urban sprawl into ODZ. Supermarket and apartments proposed in Ghajnsielem field mostly lying in ODZ area Proposed development is just 38m from the remains of two neolithic huts and most of the site is ODZ Interventions proposed beyond the development zone This agricultural land covering 7,500sq.m along Triq l-Imgarr has been earmarked for the development of three levels of basement parking, a supermarket, three overlying levels of 10 apartments and a plant nursery with greenhouses