The Planning Authority has approved plans by the Santa Lucija football club to undertake a massive upgrade to its current facilities, with eight members of the planning board voting in favour of the project and one voting against. 

The application, PA/06394/21, is for the replacement of the club’s current premises in Dawret it-Torri, Vjal l-Oleandri and, Triq il-Begonja in Santa Lucija with a FIFA-approved football pitch.

It will have a spectator stand, media area and control room, a clubhouse for Santa Lucija FC, a football school, sports hostel, underground parking, landscaped public open areas, an indoor swimming pool, a gym and spa centre, dining and catering areas, a conference space, a childcare centre, small scale retail spaces, an administration block and a hybrid resource centre. 

The approved application is an outline application, meaning that the planning board in essence approved the massing and the height of the proposed building. In order to execute the development a full development application must be filed by the club and in turn approved by the PA. 

Santa Lucija club president Robert Micallef gave a presentation about the club’s vision for the project, saying that it was conceived to have roughly 95% of the overall space dedicated to sporting facilities, while around 5% will be taken up by commercial spaces. 

The project will include a secondary school that will cater to 11 to 16-year-old students with a focus on sports disciplines. 

Micallef also assured that the hostel was not intended to cater to tourism but was intended to host visiting teams or other athletes who may visit for sports camps. 

The PA’s case officer, who recommended the project for approval summarised that the site was considered appropriate for the planned use and that, based on the surrounding buildings, an overall height limitation of 17.5 metres, or three stories and a semi-basement should not be exceeded. 

Residents not on board 

Speaking at the hearing, PN Santa Lucija councillor Liam Sciberras said that in recent days, the council had carried out a survey among residents which found that some 55% did not agree with the development. 

Movement Graffitti activist Denise Grech added that many residents had been in touch with the group to express their concerns about the scale of the project and that it would introduce “unnecessary commercialisation” into a largely quiet locality. 

“This project, given the context of Santa Lucija, is unnecessary in such a quiet place,” she said. 

“It will increase noise pollution and residents greatly fear it will impact traffic.”

Mayor Charmaine St John, who had a vote on the board for the project and ultimately voted in favour, clarified that the survey had polled over 300 residents and was supposed to reflect a 10% sample of the locality. 

Despite her vote in favour, she expressed concerns about the overall height of the project, the traffic impact and the planned uprooting of trees. 

NGO board member Romano Cassar was the only person to vote against the project, citing the resident’s opposition to the development as his motivation for doing so.