An outline development planning application to construct a 115-room hotel at Hunters Tower restaurant in Marsaxlokk was approved by the Planning Authority Board today.

The case category on the PA website lists the application as being outside the development zone.

The proposal reads: "The proposed development consists of a 115 bedroom hotel, amenities and semi-basement parking / service level in line with the brief guidelines stated in 'Marsaxlokk inner harbour area environment and development brief' public consultation draft 2014." The applicant is Jon Jon Dalli, on behalf of D&B Catering Ltd.

The site in question is the Hunters Tower Restaurant, located in Triq il-Wilga, Marsaxlokk, which lies outside the limits of development, the case officer's report reads. The site covers 4,163m² and consists of a two storey building located  towards the north-western corner of the site and the rest of the site consisting of a mix of soft and hard landscaping. "The existing building lies within the Urban Conservation Area boundary; however, it has no architectural or historical value, the case officer's report reads. The site forms part of a level 3 Area of Ecological Importance in the context of 'Il-Maghluq'."

"According to the Marsaxlokk Inner Harbour Area Environment and Development Brief, the site is reserved for tourism related uses, with the eastern confines of the site designated as an open space/garden/no development aimed at creating a buffer zone between the site and the marshland to the east of the site," the case officer's report notes.

Following the approval of the Marsaxlokk Inner Harbour Area Environment and Development Brief, the site in question has been designated for tourism related uses, the case officer reads. The proposal entails the demolition of the existing restaurant and the adjoining open area, and its replacement by a three storey hotel, with an overlying receded floor and an underlying basement level, reaching an overall metric height of 14.75m.