Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1540988
10 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 NOVEMBER 2025 NEWS A collective of 194 artists including painters, ceramicists, bronzists, sculptors, photographers and others. The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes, and of Malta Maltese Association _______________________ 24th October to 14th November 2025 St John's Cavalier Monday to Saturday 10.00am to 6.00 pm Sundays 10.00 am to 1.00 pm Order of Malta National Art Exhibition "Wied Hesri" Oil on Linen 60 x 50 cm Patrick Dalli PA approves excavation for 103-flat project in Paola The Planning Authority has approved the demolition of the former Castille Leathers factory, covering 2,300sq.m of land in close proximity to the A3 Towers in Paola. EXCAVATION of the area, ap- proved earlier this month, will create two basement levels re- quired for the second phase of the project outlined in another pending application which is still awaiting approval. The application (752/24) ear- marks the site for the develop- ment of 17 retail shops at ground- floor level and 103 residential units on the four overlying floors. The vast majority of the pro- posed apartments are single-bed- room units, even though the area lies outside the student pri- ority zone where the number of one-bedroom apartments is not capped at the legal maximum of 20%. The project is being proposed by Excel Investments Ltd, a com- pany owned by Mark Agius and Joseph Portelli. Back in June the Planning Au- thority had already approved a zoning application to create a cul-de-sac providing access to the new flats. The Paola local council, rep- resented by former Transport Minister Jesmond Mugliett, had objected to the cul-de-sac, warn- ing that this was simply a way of circumventing rules limiting the depth of building sites to the frontage of existing streets. The council argued that the site in question, which fronts Triq l-Ibjar and Triq Ninu Cremo- na, could have been developed normally, without the resulting intensification made possible by the cul-de-sac. The council had also objected to the substantial number of sin- gle-bedroom apartments being proposed in the pending applica- tion. Assessing the zoning applica- tion, the case officer acknowl- edged that the creation of the cul-de-sac will increase the site's developable frontage and poten- tial density, but noted that this will also bring significant ben- efits, including the creation of internal public pedestrian spaces and a clear transition away from industrial uses. The creation of cul-de-sacs through zoning applications is not isolated to this case and has become a common tactic used by developers to increase the devel- opable frontage for apartments on sites where such projects are currently precluded by rules lim- iting building depths to 30 me- tres. The area in Paola is currently designated for mixed-use devel- opment in the local plan, which stipulates that residential units should front Triq l-Ibjar. In 2020, the PA had issued an outline permit for the development of a five-storey office block proposed by another applicant, but the ap- plication was subsequently aban- doned. JAMES DEBONO jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt Following its approval of a cul-de-sac to allow for more apartments, the Planning Authority has now cleared excavation works for two basement levels ahead of a planned five-storey block with 103 f lats and 17 shops