Prime Minister Robert Abela has said he is against plans to build a supermarket in ODZ land in San Ġwann, saying the proposal is a “non-starter” and that the town's Labour-led council will be backed in opposing the project. 

“This application is a non-starter in the context of the government's environmental vision and that of the Labour Party,” Abela told Times of Malta on Saturday.

He was reacting to a Times of Malta story that revealed that an application for a massive new supermarket on Outside Development Zone land in San Ġwann, adjacent to a private school, had been submitted.

The proposal is to build a two-storey supermarket with underground parking on a 7,000-square-metre site on Triq tal-Balal and Triq tal-Prepostu, in an area of San Ġwann known as Ta’ Ġnien Tut.

The site is just over 250 metres from another supermarket, while an application for a supermarket and a DIY store on a site directly across the road is still being processed.

The PA has been inundated with objections to the proposed development, particularly because the site in question is agricultural land outside the development zone and is close to a school, St Michael Foundation for Education.

Mayor opposes proposal

San Ġwann Mayor Trevor Fenech said on Saturday that he intended to file an objection to the proposal, which he also described as a non-starter.

Abela said he was supporting Fenech and the council in objecting to the proposed development.

“The support to Trevor Fenech and to the local council is clear,” he said.

According to the public application form submitted by architects JG Periti, Jason Pace is the sole owner of the site in question. However, the PA website lists the developer as being Meleney Gauci.

The total area of the site is around 12,000 square metres.

The area proposed for the project also abuts Wied Għomor and Wied il-Kbir, protected areas of ecological importance and sites of scientific importance.

Objectors insist that the application runs contrary to the PA’s rural policy and objectives of the Strategic Plan for Environment and Development, which limits land take-up for uses which are not necessary or legitimate in rural areas.

“San Ġwann already has numerous supermarkets and the take-up of agricultural ODZ land, let alone land that is on the doorstep of a school and a protected ecological area, is certainly not necessary or legitimate,” the objectors wrote in their representation filed with the PA.

Nationalist MP Albert Buttigieg, a former mayor of St Julian’s, said that if the Planning Authority accepted this application, it would be going against its own policies. He stressed that grumbling alone was not enough and urged people to file their objections.

ADPD leader Sandra Gauci questioned the need for another supermarket, pointing out that LIDL in Mosta saw a drop in shoppers when Eurospin opened next door.

This is not the first time that Abela expressed his views on projects revealed by the media. Last August, he criticised developers who submit applications that breach planning policies, saying such proposals should not even be entertained by planners.

The prime minister made the statement in response to a question about a proposal to build a 38-room hotel right next to Birkirkara’s St Helen Basilica, replacing an existing palazzo. The proposal, filed by Emanuel and Thomas Mifsud of E&TM Company Ltd, has since been withdrawn.

“Applications that are not in line with planning policies should not even be submitted,” Abela said. “Even if applicants then present changes to bring proposals into line, the application will have gotten off on the wrong foot. Applications should be in line with policies from the outset,” he had said.