'Sanctioning irregularities': No full environmental study for Xewkija rezoning
Plans include rezoning Torri Gorgun in Xewkija, an ODZ area with illegally built low-rise homes
The rezoning of two pockets of land in Għajnsielem and Xewkija is set to move ahead without a full environmental assessment, a parliamentary committee was told on Wednesday.
In 2023, the Planning Authority announced plans to rezone the Ta Passi area of Għajnsielem, currently marked as a Strategic Open Gap area, as formal recreational space. The land hosts the annual Bethlehem f’Għajnsielem celebrations each Christmas.
More controversially, it also moved to rezone an ODZ area in Xewkija, known as Torri Gorgun, as a rural settlement. The area is home to several illegally-built low-rise houses, some of which were built as early as 1978.
The PA has previously argued that the area was overlooked when local plans were drawn up in 2006, with this rezoning set to address this anomaly.
The rezoning process has trickled along ever since plans were announced, with the outcomes of the PA’s Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) screening presented to parliament’s standing committee on the environment, climate change and development planning on Wednesday afternoon.
The SEA screening is the first step in understanding the potential environmental impact of rezoning plans, determining whether a full environmental assessment needs to be carried out.
PA architect Joe Scalpello told the committee that the screening process had not flagged any significant environmental impacts. He said the entities consulted, including ERA, the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage and the Climate Action Authority, had not raised any concerns over the plans.
No new floors on Xewkija properties
The entities had flagged some minor issues related to archaeological remains in the site, leading to the addition of a new clause prohibiting underground development except for minor excavation for passageway and water features, Scalpello said.
When asked, he said the Xewkija rezoning’s building height limitations would not allow any of the existing properties to add new floors, however it could allow terraced houses to be built in two empty in-fill plots.
Nevertheless, given that no concerns had been raised at the screening stage, the process could move forward without a full SEA report, he said.
The news was met with scepticism by the PN MPs on the committee.
“In this legislature we have never seen an SEA screening that proceeded to a full assessment,” PN MP Rebekah Borg noted.
Borg also questioned the purpose of introducing measures, such as a clause saying excavation must be “minimal,” that can only be assessed once a planning application is being assessed, long after the rezoning has taken place.
Stanley Zammit described the rezoning plans as “an exercise to sanction irregularities,” questioning whether this could set a precedent for other similar rezoning plans.
Meanwhile, Eve Borg Bonello called for an end to piecemeal local plan reviews, arguing that a broader, holistic review of Malta and Gozo’s local plans should be carried out instead.