Reconstruction of derelict Mellieħa hotel recommended for refusal

A permit application to reconstruct the dilapidated Festaval hotel in an Outside Development Zone in Mellieħa has been recommended for refusal on the basis of a lack of information provided by the developer to be able to fully assess the proposal.

Mizzi Estates had applied to demolish the existing hotel and reconstruct it in line with its original permit, retaining the same number of floor levels, the same floor area, number of rooms and built footprint.

But the case officer, in his report, said the applicant failed to submit the required information to enable complete assessment in terms of transport, land use and environmental impacts, within the stipulated time frames as established in regulations.

The missing information included a Traffic Scoping Statement and a Tourism Compliance Certificate by the Malta Tourism Authority, considered an integral part in determining the outline development application.

Information requested by the Environment and Resources Authority two years ago had also never been submitted, meaning it was “not in a position to evaluate the principle of the proposal (PA/04933/22) in relation to environmental matters”.

Despite the fact that no new land take-up was being proposed in the current application, the Development Management Directorate noted that the applicant and its perit, Edwin Mintoff, had failed to submit the requested information.

Well-known across Malta, the hotel was designed by architect Richard England in the late 1970s. The original structure consisted of a relatively low number of units, terraced into the hillside and nestled into the surrounding nature.

The Festaval/Festival Holiday Complex next to the Red Tower, Mellieħa, opened in 1980, now destroyed. Photo courtesy of Giovanni Bonello

Abandoned since its early years due to structural problems, it turned into a destination for alternative tourists that sought modernist constructions taken over by nature. 

With time, the deserted Festaval hotel had become dangerous. It was slapped with two enforcement actions for being left derelict, with one case still pending.

The existing structure on Triq Tad-Daħar lies within a very sensitive setting, identified as an Area of High Landscape and Conservation Value and as a Protected Area, the case officer’s report noted.

It is located in an Area of Ecological importance, a Natura 2000 site, protected under both birds and habitats directives, and within the buffer zone for the protection of several scheduled World War II defence posts. It is also in the immediate vicinity of St Agatha’s Tower.

The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage had requested that the existing structures be demolished to “rehabilitate this side of a prominent ridge, within a significant landscape, forming part of the immediate context of the Grade 1 scheduled tower”.

The site has long been abandoned.

The call to return the ridge to its natural state had been made by others, including the Mellieha local council, which, in 2022, objected on the grounds that, given the ecologically sensitive site, the only consideration to be made was to demolish the existing dangerous building and have the site restored.

BirdLife Malta and Din l-Art Ħelwa, the two organisations responsible for the management of the Foresta 2000 Nature Reserve, had filed objections too.

A decision on whether to uphold the refusal recommended by the case officer or overturn it is now scheduled for September 26.