A planning application has been filed proposing a seven-level, partly underground building on Mdina road, Zebbug. 

The application lists the area as being outside the development zone. The Planning Authority’s Geoserver however does indicate that part of the site in question is listed as an area of containment. 

The proposal will see the construction of a “multi-use commercial development built on a total of seven staggered levels, 3 of which are underground.” The proposal includes parking spaces, warehousing, a supermarket and upper levels of retail/office space within the site. 

The total site area stands at 12,116 sqm. The application form filed by the applicant lists the current use of the site as ‘commercial’. 

A previous application on the site was filed back in 2018 for which the case status is listed as being unavailable. It had proposed a development consisting of a solar farm at ground floor, retail area at level -1 and warehousing plus parking at levels -2 and -3 within site already covered by PA 776/93 (to erect precast concrete factory).

In the 2018 application, the case officer had noted that the proposed development is not acceptable “since it is mostly located outside the Area of Containment boundary and a large chunk of the site falls within a ‘Valley Protection Zone’. Therefore, the proposal will run counter to the SPED objectives, and the relative SMLP Policy and RPDG Policies protecting this particular area.”

Indeed the Environment and Resources Authority had said, about the 2018 application, that “Whilst it is being noted that the land affected by the proposed development consists of an infill plot engulfed by adjacent built developments, ERA notes that the development would still extend beyond the approved boundary of the adjacent Area of Containment (AoC) and would thus result in the uptake of undeveloped land Outside the Development Zone. Therefore, ERA considers that such development should be entirely confined within the Area of Containment.”

It is unclear as to the exact extent of land the current application intends to take up.