The Garden of Eden wedding venue on Triq il-Barrieri, Zurrieq, is planned to be demolished and the site rebuilt into bungalows with pools for tourist accommodation, according to a planning application.

According to the application form, the site lies outside the development zone. The application reads that the site will have the same area of the existing buildings and include a car park. In total, the plans show 12 buildings.

In 2018, a similar application on the site was filed, however also filled a field opposite (which was previously used as an illegal car park) with such accommodation, and would have totalled 14 buildings in all and would have been larger in scale.

On the 2018 application, the Environment and Resources Authority had said that the project was objectionable, among other things stating that the development of the building cluster on the western part of the site would result in significant scattering of development and additional commitment of undeveloped land well beyond the limits of the existing built-up area.”

It had also said that the take-up of land which was developed illegally as a makeshift car park for the proposed construction of a second additional building cluster, was prejudicing the restoration of that part of the site, and is therefore considered unacceptable. It also said that the project will lead to adverse effects on the visual amenity and the landscape character of the coastal area, designated as an Area of High Landscape Value.

The 2018 application had been withdrawn by the applicant, and the latest application does away with the cluster on the site of the former illegal car park, and reduces the footprint of the building on the western part of the site.

It remains to be seen, however, whether the Planning Authority would allow some form of tourism residential development in such a location.