New plans submitted for the controversial Delimara Bay hotel project under a new planning application will see the hotel take up even more ODZ land, but lower the height of the hotel when compared to the plans approved in 2018.
The application concerns a site which hosts the ruins of another hotel which closed back in the 1980s and which is on ODZ land on the far outskirts of Marsaxlokk, overlooking the picturesque Kalanka Bay.
Highly controversial plans to convert the site into a boutique hotel were approved in March 2018 by the Planning Authority, despite widespread objections from residents and NGOs alike.
The new plans are now described as a “change in layout and distribution of uses of the approved hotel to achieve: an increase in public open space and extending landscaped areas including roof tops and terraces, and the removal of lower basement level and reduction in the overall height.”
An analysis of the plans submitted to the PA, however, reveals that while the overall height of the project will decrease, the developed area that the project will take up will increase by 24%, from 985 square metres to 1,225 square metres.
Meanwhile, the area of hard landscaping will actually decrease by 6% from 410 square metres to 385 square metres.
When the first application was approved, the PA had said in a statement that “the original hotel which dates back to the 1950’s covers a footprint of 343m², whilst the existing hard landscaping covers 707m², resulting in a total disturbed area of 1,040m². The re-development project will not go beyond this disturbed footprint area.” It remains to be seen what their views will be on the new plans, the developed area of which would indeed exceed this footprint.
The case is still awaiting a recommendation from the case officer, but there have been some submissions from other stakeholders.
The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage gave it a more favourable outlook than the already approved version of the hotel, because of the lower building height. They also recommended that the proposed greenery and landscaping form part of the final permit, as these will make the proposed hotel less alien to the surrounding rural area.
The Malta Tourism Authority meanwhile found the project to be acceptable from a touristic standpoint.
The Environment & Resources Authority said that the application is still subject to screening and that in view of the scale and nature of the proposal, the ERA will await the outcome of the said screening before making its views known.
A controversial development
The plans are, as already mentioned, proposing alterations to plans for an “ecological boutique hotel” with luxury suites, bar and restaurant, and public beach facilities which was approved in 2018.
The plans were approved by eight votes to three – the ERA chairman Victor Axiak, NGO representative Annick Bonello and Opposition representative of the time Marthese Portelli were the ones who voted against.
There were also plans for a tunnel to link the hotel to the beach area, but these were withdrawn by the developers before the meeting in 2018 took place, after the ERA found that building it would undermine the structural integrity of the cliff face.
The application attracted hundreds of objections from members of the public and environmental groups who argued that the development will negatively impact a remote and rural coastal area outside the development zone.
Despite this, the PA’s case officer had recommended that the project be approved – which it ultimately was in a tense meeting which saw a resident kicked out of the hall for “disrespectful behaviour” while asking questions about the project.
The PA had said in a statement a few hours after the original decision was taken that the project would “open a new window of opportunity for tourism accommodation in the south of Malta.”