Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar is “strongly objecting” to the excavation of a site for the construction of garages, a house and apartments in Triq Sant’Antnin Għajnsielem.

In a statement on Sunday, it called on the Planning Authority to refuse the application.

It said it is objecting to the application on grounds of its impact - it being proposed in an area of high landscape protection - due to its excessive depth and because there is insufficient information for the application to be properly assessed. 

The proposal is for the internal demolition of an existing house, retaining the existing facade, the excavation of the site, the construction of 13 garages and two car spaces at basement level, topped by a house and 11 apartments.

FAA said that in view of the site’s sensitive nature, it is highly irregular that the application was uploaded for public representations without the required elevations in line with planning requirements.

It said that due to the large scale of the six-floor back elevation and the sensitive nature of the area of high landscape protection abutting onto it, landscape and streetscape elevations needed to be accompanied by photomontages from different long-range views in view of strong concerns that the proposed building would violate.

The proposal, FAA said, would also create a blank party wall in violation of existing rules.

FAA said that at 86.3 metres, the depth of the building was almost three times that permissible, which should not be allowed to exceed 30 metres.

FAA said that both the Constitution and the PA’s own regulations stipulated that Malta and Gozo’s landsapes and skylines are to be protected.