The fate of a 200-year-old farmhouse that is the last surviving link to the family that gave Fgura its name is set to be decided by the Environmental Planning Review Tribunal on Thursday.

The property, a now-dilapidated structure just off Hompesch Road, was stripped of its basic protection status 18 months ago after a planning tribunal ruled it didn't have any special relevance to the identity of the town.

The tribunal is now set to decide on an application by Trevor Buttigieg to demolish the existing building and raise the security perimeter wall. 

Fgura residents, heritage NGOs and the local council gathered outside the building on Wednesday afternoon to make a last-ditch appeal for it to be protected.

NGO Flimkien għall Ambjent Aħjar said that the property should be preserved while allowing the area to be developed into recreational space for residents and an urban 'green lung' that would serve to alleviate some of the adverse effects of the heavy traffic pollution the area experienced. 

Fgura Mayor Pierra Dalli said that the local council would continue to fight tirelessly to safeguard the integrity of the site and push for Grade 2 scheduling. 

"In the past 50 year, Fgura has been built up completely, denying its residents green recreational spaces. Please help us give residents the quality of life they deserve," Dalli said. 

"We should have the same mission; of creating a locality where people can live in a community together and not a locality where they simply exist."

FAA coordinator Astrid Vella said that in the face of sprawling development in Fgura, authorities should have prioritised open spaces and it was worrying that the property had been descheduled after several unsuccessful attempts. 

"What changed between the first, second and third application for all it's protections to be removed and for the fourth application to be welcomed," Vella asked.

Documents from the Notarial archives indicate that the structure is the last surviving property related to the ‘Ficura’ family, which owned the surrounding fields and farms and after whom the locality of Fgura is named. 

The farmhouse was granted Grade 3 scheduling by the Planning Authority in 1995. 

It consists of several distinguished vernacular features, including stone slabs and corbels, and the basis of which attempts to have the building descheduled in 2009, 2011 and 2015 were refused. 

While Grade 3 scheduling did not necessarily protect the building from demolition, any replacement development would have to be constructed “in harmony” with the property’s surroundings. 

 

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