Siġġiewi land next to 400-year-old church ruins now slated for development

The Planning Authority has approved a rezoning application that paves the way for three-storey residential buildings on an abandoned plot of land beside the ruins of a 400-year-old church in Siġġiewi.

The decision was taken during a PA executive council meeting on Tuesday, nearly one year after the authority first deferred a decision on the application.

The site is a 3,786-square-metre vacant plot of land within Siġġiewi’s development zone, and is located between Siġġiewi’s former parish church and the town’s urban conservation area.

The approved zoning application could see the area marked in red become a residential area.

The approved zoning application (PC/00033/18) was filed eight years ago. It proposed a revision to the South Malta Local Plan and to establish official alignments, building heights and designations for the development area, including green areas and a buffer zone.

The applicant is Keith Abela. He was represented by architect Robert Musumeci.

The case officer assigned to evaluate the zoning application recommended it for approval.

The proposed scheme back in June 2025.

In June 2025, during a previous executive council meeting, the PA put off the decision after objectors flagged concerns about the negative impact the rezoning would have on the Grade 1 scheduled church ruins and the lack of green space.

The decision was postponed by three months. In November, the decision was postponed once again after the architect requested a deferral.

The rezoning application initially proposed a 7.63 metre-wide public passageway that would cut through the development site to provide access to the public open space located next to the ruins. Two-storey blocks were earmarked for the area overlooking the public open passageway. Three-storey blocks, including basement and semi-basement, were proposed for the rest of the site.

The proposed scheme which was approved in May 2026.

A revised proposal scrapped that “visual corridor” passageway and replaced it with a developable area. It instead increased the amount of open space on the west side of the site and included a publicly accessible open space along the old church ruins’ boundary. It is not specified whether the green area being proposed will be publicly accessible, or private.

The revised proposal also increased maximum building heights within the developable area from three floors and a basement (16.3 metres) to three floors and a semi-basement (17.5 metres), and scrapped a 33-metre-long front garden along Triq Dun Gużepp Aquilina.