'Stop eating up ODZ': Swieqi, San Ġwann councils object to private school plan

Granting a permit to build a school on ODZ land would be “a regression” in planning terms since such land should be protected and not invaded, objectors to the project said.

The Swieqi Local Council and Moviment Graffitti made similar points in the objections they filed to an application to build a four-storey private school for 800 students on land outside the development zone (ODZ).

The application - PA/02248/25 - was filed by architect Michael Camilleri on behalf of Newark School Malta. The proposed development will include the relocation of an existing Primary and Secondary School. The new development – located on Tal-Balal Road corner with Ibraġ Road in San Ġwann – would include a nursery, kinder, primary and secondary school.

The proposed building is four storeys high with basement parking and will include five classes for nursery hosting 93 children and 26 classes from Kinder 1 - year 11 hosting up to 26 students per class total being 769.

The educational facility will also include a multipurpose hall, a library, science and IT labs, a sub-station and other ancillary facilities.

San Ġwann's former mayor Trevor Fenech, now minority leader, had said that “ODZ land should remain ODZ,". He however, voiced concern that since this was an application for a school, it might get a permit.

A string of objections

In their objections, the Swieqi Local Council and Moviment Graffitti started by insisting that “ODZ means ODZ” and these green areas ought to be protected, not allowed to be invaded by development.

“The Planning Authority cannot continue to allow the eating up of areas which are declared as ODZ to make room for further building. Building can only take place in areas allocated for development, otherwise the planning policies might as well be shredded,” the council said.

They went on to add that the application was for the relocation of the school. But the current school was in a development zone, in Parisio Street, Sliema. Besides, the construction of a school ODZ was nowhere in the Rural Policy and Design Guidance (RPDG) policy document and there was no justification for a four-storey school on an ODZ plot.

Even though the site was adjacent to St Michael's School, also ODZ, that school was granted permission in 2004, before the publication of the Local Plans and the RPDG document. That school therefore, did not represent a "commitment".“

The site where the private school would be located. Photo: Planning Authority

In 2006, the government declared, by approving the Local Plans, that no further development would be allowed to take place outside defined development zones…. The government basically said that ‘this is enough, no more’,” the council said.

They also mentioned the negative impact on traffic in an already heavily congested area – something that was also emphasised in the objection by the San Ġwann local council that noted that the entry for minibuses to the underground car park was on a heavily congested road.

The council also noted that the site was close to a construction site and industrial area that created high levels of particulate matter. This reduced the air quality in the area.

It said the open air space proposed within the plans to cater for the children who will attend the school at various levels is “much less” than that requested by subsidiary legislation on the subject.