The planning authority has approved the development of a new Lidl supermarket on the site of an existing concrete brick manufacturing plant at the limits of Mosta.
The development on Id-Difiża Ċivili Street occupies approximately 8,700 square metres, including the main supermarket facility as well as storage areas, a bakery, loading area, an office, staff facilities and 174 car parking spaces.
Just over a quarter of the site – 27 per cent – will be built up, with the remaining area comprising a vehicular ring-road around the supermarket structure and soft landscaping around the perimeter.
An outline planning permit for the development had already been issued last year, giving the applicant the right to build on a larger footprint, but he decided to reduce it by about nine per cent.
The site also falls within an area of archaeological importance for Bronze Age to 20th-century features
The site, which faces the Mcast campus, currently hosts the Fort Blocks Industrial Complex, owned by a subsidiary of construction firm Gatt Brothers Ltd.
It was previously outlined as ODZ, but the area’s local plan subsequently included it as part of the ‘designated area of containment’, a sub-category which largely covers industrial and commercial activities.
The site also falls within an area of archaeological importance for Bronze Age to 20th-century features with Class A level of protection.
According to the case officer report, the supermarket development, which is 150 metres away from the nearest houses, was not envisaged to have a detrimental impact on the residential area or existing or planned businesses in the vicinity.
The Mepa board imposed a bank guarantee of €50,000 to ensure that a roundabout in Id-Difiża Ċivili Street was constructed as part of the project, to aid traffic management.
The Mosta outlet will be the company’s seventh in Malta, alongside locations in Santa Venera, Qormi, San Ġwann, Luqa, Għaxaq, Safi and Victoria.
The company has had its eyes on the Mosta area for a number of years, having previously had an application for an outlet on ODZ land in the locality rejected in 2007.
Meanwhile, Mepa also granted an Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) permit to Wasteserv’s thermal treatment facility in Marsa.
The permit obliges WasteServ to use the incineration plant for hazardous wastes and animal by-products, doing all possible to prevent or, where that is not practicable, reduce emissions.