The Mosta council and a heritage NGO have strongly objected to the construction of a hall in the ODZ back garden of entrepreneur Angelo Xuereb’s villa, 25 metres from the scheduled Victoria Lines.

Permit application PA/ 00196/22 is awaiting recommendation to demolish a dilapidated greenhouse in the garden of the residence and construct a hall and sanitary facilities, including landscaping and new accesses from Triq Misraħ Għonoq, where Villa Vistana is located in the limits of Mosta.

The applicant is AX Group, the founder and chairman of which is Xuereb, a construction, property development and tourism mogul.

The approval of the development would be perceived as a “grotesque land encroachment for private purposes”, alienating the larger community, according to the local council.

The seemingly minimal and innocent intervention could also set a precedent for future piecemeal development in the area, it warned.

The area has been considered part of a larger green lung and public space

Falling under agricultural areas, the site overlooks the Ġnien l-Għarusa tal-Mosta and the Victoria Lines, both forming part of a recreational zone and covered by environmental management plans and a proposed tree conservation order.

Without going into the merits of the proposal within the site’s privacy, the local council highlighted that the area has been considered part of a larger green lung and public space, as clearly outlined in the local plans.

While it was up to the Planning Authority to look beyond the “right to develop” and consider the proposal’s design as regards policy and common sense, the council’s “clear discontent” lay with “the nature of the proposal on the public realm”.

The proposed hall was likely to be utilised to hold events and the local council expressed concern about the traffic generation, requesting an impact assessment to see the effects on the existing parking facilities that already cater for the public garden and the Malta College for Science, Arts and Technology nearby.

Mosta mayor Romilda Baldacchino Zarb said the project had sparked alarm like others that are not in Mosta’s development zone.

The villa overlooks the Ġnien l-Għarusa tal-Mosta and the Victoria Lines.

Din l-Art Ħelwa said it is also against “the further take-up and formalisation of ODZ land through requests that can neither be deemed necessary nor justified and stand to threaten the integrity of the rural environment”.

The attempt to legitimise the extension of a villa could not be justified, it insisted, adding that the existing property already exceeded the maximum threshold permitted for ODZ dwellings.

The application suggested alternative uses for the site, which were not clear at this stage, it pointed out.

Located within the context of the Victoria Lines – Grade 1 scheduled properties – DLĦ maintained the application must be assessed in line with the PA’s own guidelines, which aim to safeguard protected buildings by preventing any development that may negatively impact their setting.

The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage has also noted the importance of context in the perception of scheduled sites.

The area earmarked for development has been recognised for its scenic value as evidenced by its scheduling as an Area of High Landscape Value (AHLV), the SCH said.

Given the cultural heritage sensitivity of the site, and its ODZ location, within an AHLV, the superintendence said it required further information, including photomontages of the proposed development as seen from the Victoria Lines, to be able to assess the development application.

The Environment and Resources Authority has said, however, that the proposal may qualify for an environmental permit, requesting an indication of all trees present on site and proposed interventions.

The expiry date for representations is March 25.