The garden within St Julians’ Urban Conservation Area in which a hotel and two apartment blocks are being proposed. Photo submitted as part of PA/8237/25.
Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar called for the refusal of an outline application that seeks to pave the way for the construction of two apartment blocks and a hotel within an existing garden full of mature trees within St Julians’ Urban Conservation Area.
The NGO issued its statement early on Monday – the deadline for any objections to PA/8237/25 submitted by AMIR Ltd – as it urged members of the public to follow suit by sending objections.
The application has already attracted over 20 objections including MP and former St Julians mayor Albert Buttigieg, Moviment Graffitti and various other individuals, many St Julians residents.
FAA maintained that the application “raises serious planning, heritage, and residential amenity concerns as the proposed land use is inappropriate for the site,” maintaining that the proposed hotel violated the site’s designation as a residential area, particularly on the footprint of a historic building.
It said that the property ha an evident and high degree or architectural and historical value, given a recorded link to World War II counterintelligence activity.
The NGO also emphasised that the scale and intensity of development was excessive, given the planned construction of two apartment blocks and a hotel, with one block rising to 6 storeys in a 2-storey UCA.
Consequently, it maintained, it violated the requirement that any development should be compatible with good urban design, and that any extensions into such green lungs should be justified and “minor.”
“The proposal would result in the permanent loss of open and green space. Private gardens within historic village cores are a protected, important environmental and cultural asset. Their development contributes to overdevelopment, reduces soil permeability, and diminishes the quality of life for existing residents,” it said.
The FAA also emphasised that the surrounding street network could not safely accommodate the proposed development on a site which lies on the corner of Triq il-Karmnu and Triq Sant’Anġlu: both narrow residential streets largely without pavements.
Moreover, it argued that the use of an outline application was misleading: the application ostensibly seeks to establish excavation and height parameters but effectively seeks approval for the principle of development, use, and scale.
It maintained that it was replete with falsehoods, with no mention of the commercial aspect of the project, claims that the site was “disturbed” and an insistence that no trees would need to be felled.
“UCAs exist to protect traditional residential environments, not to facilitate commercial intensification,” it said.
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