Petition to block Swatar development plans gains Momentum

Momentum has backed a parliamentary petition calling for two tracts of undeveloped land in Swatar to be preserved, as residents seek to stop two long-running Planning Control applications linked to the area.

The petition was launched on April 8 and asks parliament to intervene to ensure applications PC/00013/17 and PC/00139/18 are withdrawn or rejected.

Planning Control applications are required to change zoning rules for specific areas and are generally followed by development applications. 

The applications in question relate to undeveloped tracts of land lying alongside Valley Road and the Birkirkara bypass, respectively. They date back years, but progress on them has recently accelerated. 

The first, PC/00013/17, was filed by David Grech and was recently recommended for approval by a Planning Authority case officer. 

It seeks to establish planning parameters for a 17,455-square-metre rationalisation site off Valley Road and allow 12 detached residential building blocks laid out in a grid pattern, separated by a mix of public and private open spaces. 

The developer says the blocks will feature a semi-basement level and additional three floors each. 

Objectors have flagged several concerns, chief among which is the argument that the development proposal runs counter to the original rationalisation condition, which said development should be limited to the lower 50% of the site, with the rest retained as open space.

The case officer accepted the applicant’s argument that the scheme complies with that condition through what the report describes as a 3D interpretation of the site. On that reading, the developable area would amount to 43.3% of the land, with 51.1% classed as public or private open space and the remaining 5.5% taken up by a cul-de-sac.  

The case officer acknowledged, however, that a "substantial area of the Public Open Space is intended to provide frontages to the building blocks (similar to a conventional road network)." 

The report noted that road design plans had been amended in line with Transport Malta requests and said development applications for the area should include reservoirs with a capacity of at least 7,400 cubic metres to mitigate storm flooding concerns. 

The second Planning Control application, PC/00139/18, seeks to rezone a tract of land alongside the Birkirkara bypass into a four-storey development area. It was filed by Joseph Falzon on behalf of various landowners of the site.

The area targeted for rezoning off the Birkirkara bypass. Photo: Google Maps

Momentum: PL and PN MPs are ignoring this 

Momentum said on Saturday that the site, in the Swatar valley area between Birkirkara and Msida, should be protected as open green space rather than opened up for development.

Party chair Arnold Cassola said residents were being left to push for protection themselves because PL and PN MPs were failing to table a parliamentary motion to save the valley.

Matthew Agius, a Momentum election candidate in Swatar, said open spaces were essential for healthy communities and warned that once such land is built over, it is lost permanently.

Momentum urged the public to sign the petition and called on the authorities to act to preserve the land for future generations.