A planning application to turn a large stretch of arable land into an 'afforested obstacle course' was withdrawn by the project’s architect on Thursday, shortly before the Planning Authority was set to decide on whether to approve it or not.
The application, PA/07353/22, proposed the afforestation of the agricultural site incorporating a seasonal obstacle race track with beaten earth passageways. The project involved the excavation of reservoirs for the watering of trees and the construction of an information office and other ancillary facilities.
The proposal was made by Darren Desira on behalf of MAD Fitness Limited on a site that lies on Vjal l-Istadium Nazzjonali in Ta’ Qali.
The application has received over 360 objections from the public, including activist group Graffitti.
Objectors pointed out that the site lies outside the development zone and thus the proposal runs counter to planning policies in place to safeguard protected areas and species. The proposed development, they said would lead to an increase in cars and traffic and consequently noise and pollution. They also said that the term afforestation was being used to “green-wash” the application and did not justify the loss of agricultural land.
The PA’s case officer subsequently recommended the application for refusal citing a number of planning policies to indicate that the proposal was not considered legitimate or necessary within a rural area and would result in a negative impact on an area of high landscape value.
Additionally, the case officer said that the application ran counter to provisions of the Ta’ Qali action plan since it was not related to agriculture and would negatively affect the soil as well as the scenic value of the landscape.
Shortly before the board hearing started on Thursday, architect Colin Zammit informed the board members that he had put in a request to suspend the application, as he had met government officials who informed him of plans for new policies about outdoor gyms.
Planning Board chairman Emmanuel Camilleri and PA executive chairman Oliver Magro said the request for a suspension could not be accepted as the board had not been notified by the (planning) ministry of any such intention.
Both Camilleri and Magro stressed that in order to accept the request for a suspension, they would have to be notified by the ministry that policy was going to be reviewed. Without such notice, they were bound to assess the application based on the policies that are currently in place.
In view of this, Zammit chose to withdraw the application.