The Planning Authority greenlit Żurrieq farmland for development on Tuesday, despite numerous objections.

The PA’s executive council voted unanimously to allow development on 12,000 square metres of arable land in Nigret, Żurrieq.

This means that developers can now apply for planning permits in an area the size of one and a half football grounds.   

Residents fiercely contested the zoning application, with some 1,500 objections to PC/00049/19 filed.

“We care about everything except the quality of life for residents in the area,” Justin Attard, one objector said on Tuesday.

The application allows the applicants, Grand Property Holdings Ltd., to extend existing roads, create a new one, and rezone the entire area for terraced housing. Grand Property Holdings is owned by James Barbara and Jason Mifsud. 

It follows another application, approved in July 2022, to allow development in another large parcel of land in the Nigret countryside. That application was filed by developer Anton Camilleri. 

Residents to file appeal  

Żurrieq residents said that they plan to file a court appeal to the decision.   

Planning Control applications cannot be appealed before the PA's appeals tribunal, the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal. 

“In the coming days we will be forming a residents group and collecting needed funds to fight this disaster that is happening in Żurrieq and in many localities affect by a siege of greed,” a spokesperson for residents said.    

Many residents objected during the Tuesday afternoon PA hearing, arguing that the zoning change went against the Strategic Plan for Environment and Development (SPED).   

SPED is the Planning Authority’s guiding document and is the highest point of the legal hierarchy of planning laws and policies and supersedes all others.  

The document states that no arable land should be developed, lawyer Claire Bonello said.   

Bonello also questioned whether three-quarters of the zoning area’s owners consented to the change.

The PA said that 96 per cent of owners had signed in favour of the application, but refused to publish relevant documents, citing privacy laws.   

Labour MEPs oppose decision  

Cyrus Engerer and Alex Agius Saliba, two Labour MEPs both publicly objected to the zoning change.  

“Following the Planning Authority meeting on the rape of Żurrieq,” Engerer said through an Instagram post.   

“It is incredible how the minister who in 2006 changed the local plans, is now the architect of the development being discussed,” he said.  

Labour MEP Cyrus Engerer described the zoning change as 'the rape of Żurrieq' Credit: Cyrus Engerer/ Instagram

Engerer was referring to George Pullicino, the architect who filed the application on behalf of the applicant. Pullicino was the minister responsible for planning between 2003 and 2008. 

Agius Saliba had earlier publicly opposed the zoning and called on the government to reverse local plans and protect Nigret.      

The controversial 2006 local plans were completed under then-planning minister George Pullicino, who is now the architect representing the applicants.

Those local plans are often cited as a key contributor to overdevelopment, especially through the infamous ‘rationalisation’ of development boundaries, which increased building zones and led to an unprecedented urban sprawl.    

The Nigret site which the PA opened to development on Tuesday was added to the development zone through that rationalisation exercise in those 2006 plans. 

Although the government has been promising a revision of local plans for years, it has failed to follow up on that pledge. 

The Opposition has also said local plans must be changed: PN environment spokesperson Stanley Zammit said the government should immediately launch a process to revise, replace or remove local plans and policies on the basis of studies such as carrying capacity and SPED.  

The planning system, he said, should be holistic, clear, accountable, transparent, fair and one which prioritised the quality of life and sustainable development.