“Regarding this case – the PA should stick to the local plans – the type of development in the application is not allowed,” Cassar explained. 

“In general, it is now more than obvious that local plans need to be revised to protect open spaces, and that the 2006 rationalisation exercise – the shameful product of a Nationalist administration, kept, shamefully by the Labour government, needs to be repealed to try and save what’s left undeveloped,” he stated.

Cassar also offered a further explanation as to why such a development should be refused, after consulting with the 2006 local plans.

“ODZ does not mean the same in all instances. In this case (looking at the policy maps) – the area is an already committed/developed ODZ area (abandoned buildings/ and fields/soil/former greenhouses covered areas) which means that the only approved applications are for its previous use – that is some type of garden centre or for horticultural uses,” he said.

“But most importantly: any new development must use the same footprint occupied at present, same height, same soil cover etc. So, to summarise the local plan does not indicate the area in question for uses other than that for which it is used/was used – the same type of activity, same footprint, same height, no additional ‘concreting over’ of spaces,” he explained.

“So as the Central Malta Local Plan stands the current application should be recommended for refusal. With all their defects the local plan should prevent the overdevelopment of the area. The PA should at least do its duty and see that the local plan is adhered to: that’s the very least it should do,” Cassar said.

PN leader Bernard Grech and candidate Rebekah Cilia also explained that while the party is in favour of promoting activities related to sports, it should be done in the appropriate spaces.

“We are in favour of promoting sports activities but not on virgin land,” Grech and Cilia said.

“The protection of our environment needs to be given priority in every political decision and when implementing legislation,” Cilia continued.

“Also, we are proposing that for any land which is in an ODZ, to become within the development zone, a 2/3 vote in parliament is necessary. Furthermore, we are proposing that each year 50,000sqm of public land becomes part of the ODZ,” Cilia said, referring to two of the PN’s electoral proposals.

The application in question, which was filed by Michael Spiteri on behalf of Mediterranean Flower Products LTD, is set to take up the whopping amount of 207,000 sqm, situated within the Outside Development Zone (ODZ).

As indicated within the public application form, the proposed multipurpose sports village includes; a full-size rugby pitch, a half-size scrum training pitch, two full-size football pitches, a half-size intensive training pitch, a sprint track, five tennis courts, one tennis show-court, four paddle tennis courts, an indoor sports complex, football and rugby club, tennis club.

And that’s not all, the application also includes, a sports health club, a sports rehabilitation clinic, sports hotel (Class 3B), indoor and outdoor garden centre, commercial area (Class 4B and 4D), surface and underground parking, as well as extensive landscaping.

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