Ghasri’s mayor Daniel Attard has not replied to this website’s questions about a development application for a block of flats on land that belongs to him, according to notarial records.
The development, which extends beyond the development boundary, was initially proposed last year as a five-level block of eight flats, but opposition from the heritage authorities appears to have compelled the applicant to remove one floor in the latest amendments to the architectural plans made last June. Buildings on either side of the site are two-storey townhouses, and the street is designated as an Urban Conservation Area. The NGO Din L-Art Helwa had written that there was “absolutely no justification for the four-storey building” and that recessed floors “are completely inadmissible.”
The proposal is the type of development that has been causing consternation over intensifying development among residents at the street where it is situated, Triq Il-Knisja.
Last year, two residents attended a meeting of the Ghasri Local Council to express their preoccupation over “excessive” development on Triq Il-Knisja. They said that the “amount” and “density” of the developments, including a proposal for 16 flats, would cause “large problems” in terms of parking, as well as strain on sewage and water systems among other things.
The mayor, Daniel Attard, told them that the council’s policy was to object to developments that fall outside the development zone (ODZ), and that the council was doing its utmost to prevent developments in ODZ areas.
Two months after that meeting the Planning Authority received an application for the kind of development the residents had lamented about – a five-level block of flats on Triq Il-Knisja – on land that belongs to the mayor Daniel Attard according to notarial records. The applicant (Kevin Vella) declared in the application form that he is not an owner of the site, but that he had “notified the owner of my intention to apply by registered letter”, and that the owner had “granted consent to such proposal.”
Around a third of the footprint of the proposed development – part of the terrace of the ground floor flats, as well as the entire pool and decking area – extends beyond the development zone, and the application is categorized as an Outside Development Zone (ODZ) application by the Planning Authority. The part of the development that falls outside the development zone amounts to 175 square metres.
In the minutes of council meetings in September of 2023, which is when the application was open for representations or objections, there is no reference or mention of any development applications.
The Ghasri council has in recent years most visibly objected to applications for farms outside the development zone, and this website could not establish whether the council has objected to any applications that straddle the development boundaries, with part being within and part beyond the development zone.
Last June, three days before the local council elections, Daniel Attard put up a Facebook post drawing attention to site notifications for developments situated in private alleys off one of the streets in Ghasri, Triq Wied Sara. One of those applications, which is still pending, is for an expansion of an agricultural store from 20 square metres to 37 square metres. The application is predicated on a provision in the Rural Policy and Design Guidance, the same policy that is used to acquire permits for swimming pools set behind buildings and falling beyond the development boundary, as is the case with the proposed block of flats on Triq Il-Knisja on land belonging to Attard (as already pointed out, in that case the footprint juts into ODZ by 175 square metres).
The rural policy has been much criticized by NGOs, and the academic and environmentalist Alan Deidun once referred to permits being granted under provisions of the rural policy as “death [of the countryside] by a thousand cuts.”
The mayor, Attard, did not reply to any of the various questions sent by this website via email and text message. This included questions on whether he thinks that the development as initially proposed, and the plans as amended, is acceptable, and what is the nature of the agreement he has or had with the applicant. Neither did Attard reply to a question on whether he could confirm or deny that he remains owner of the site.
Notarial records seen by this website show that the land in question, which is a sizeable 541 square metres, was donated to Attard by his mother.
The proposed development is situated at the lower end of Triq Il-Knisja about 30 metres up the road from another application, on the opposite side of the street, for a larger block of flats on a site with a wider frontage. The two development proposals are flanked by townhouses on either side.
Attard has been the mayor of Ghasri for eleven years. He initially represented the Partit Nazzjonalista (the conservatives) until in 2022 he resigned from the PN and switched allegiance to the Partit Laburista (Labour). In the last council election last June, he was elected as a Labour Party candidate.
Full disclosure: Some residents of Triq Il-Knisja have given modest donations for journalism on this website. I am also assisting some residents in opposing the development of flats in front of the Planning Authority.
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