The Environment and Planning Review Tribunal (EPRT) will take a decision on a Planning Authority permit issued for a four-storey apartment block with 65 residential units facing outside the development zone (ODZ) land in Lija on Thursday.

The site is located at St Joseph Farm, which faces two roads, Triq il-Mithna and Triq Depiro-Gourgion, right on the edge of the development zone. The application includes the proposed demolition of existing structures and uprooting of existing vegetation, excavation of 3 basement private parking levels and the construction of 163 garages, 17 maisonettes at level 0, 18 apartments at level 1, 18 apartments at level 2 and overlying 12 penthouses. The application was filed after a Planning Control Application had been approved.

Although this development was objected to by a number of Lija residents and the local council, the PA granted a permit for this development in January 2022, after the case officer report recommended that this development be granted.

Following this decision, NGO Din l-Art Helwa (DLH) filed an appeal with the EPRT in February 2022.

In a Facebook post, DLH explained that through the appeal it argued that "the ODZ-fronting block of 65 new apartments is completely out of scale with its surroundings and once realised will simply eradicate the low-lying distinctness of the area."

"The uncharacteristic 4-storey block would dominate long and short-distance views, particularly due to the site's prominence lying at the very edge of the development boundary. The site visually forms part of the rural landscape and should have been developed more sensitively to ensure a gradual transition from the development zone to the rural area. Sadly, that was not achieved here," the NGO added.

The Lija local council had objected to this development before it was approved and said that the development will serve to "significantly alter" the character and integrity of this area on the edge of the Lija development zone.

The council highlighted that the density of the development, the intensification of traffic activity in the area, and the visual amenity impacts are considered to be inappropriate.

At the time the council was not alone in its concerns. The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage (SCH) had said: "Given the location, any development application proposed on this site should adopt an adequate transitional solution between the rural area in ODZ and the schemed area within the development zone. The SCH therefore recommends a more sensitive treatment in volumes as well as in design, in order to mitigate the impact of such development onto the surrounding landscape."