The mayor of Pembroke has pledged that his council will keep a close watch on the construction of a new Chinese embassy on nearly 20,000 square metres of land near Australia Hall and former military barracks.
It will insist on low-rise buildings and that trees in the area are saved but will not be filing any objections to the proposed project, representations on which are open till April 29.
The council has famously been on the forefront of the fight against a high-rise complex planned by the db Group on the site of the former Institute for Tourism Studies in Pembroke.
Mayor Dean Hili said the embassy project, which incorporates an ambassadorial residence, is on land allowed for development and has been in the pipeline for more than a decade.
The Chinese government’s purchase of the land had been passed by parliamentary resolution so objections would be legally baseless, he said.
The Chinese embassy filed a planning application for the project last November. The land lies off Triq Suffolk, a stone’s throw away from the scheduled Australia Hall, a colonial building owned by the Labour Party.
Hili said the parcel of land had always been within the development zone and the previous administration had wanted to build housing units there.
He explained that back in 2010 the administration had proposed an amendment to the local plan for an embassy to be allowed on the land. The local plan was then amended in March 2013.
We will also push to convince the Chinese to build as little as possible and as low as possible
The Chinese government bought the land from the government in 2015.
“Obviously, none of this pleases me personally or the council but, as it stands, I believe that objections are, legally speaking, baseless. None of us want to see more land lost to buildings,” Mr Hili said when contacted.
He defended the council’s environmental credentials, saying it had made a name for itself fighting the environmental corner, and this always on the basis of planning laws and policies.
“Simply objecting to the development outright here, in my view, would diminish our credibility in objecting to other projects.
“We will obviously be following the development very closely, conducting surveys to see what trees may be saved and suggesting that the design incorporates as many of them as possible. But calling for the complete abandonment of the project is unrealistic and misguided.
“We will also push to convince the Chinese to build as little as possible, and as low as possible.”
The Environment and Resources Authority says the application does not qualify for an Environment Impact Assessment.
The Superintendent of Cultural Heritage has asked for more information in view of the number of scheduled buildings in the vicinity including barracks, Australia Hall and a cluster of military buildings.
A diplomat at the Chinese embassy said a new embassy was needed in view of the growing exchanges between the two countries.
“We bought the piece of land in Pembroke a few years ago and the project will include office buildings and a residential area,” the diplomat said.