The Santa Lucia local council backed outline development plans for a newly upgraded complex for the locality’s football team in a board hearing on Thursday, despite the majority of residents having indicated that they do not agree with the project.

An outline development application for a newly upgraded footballing complex filed by Premier League side Santa Lucia FC was approved by the Planning Board on Thursday by eight votes to one.

Being that this is an outline development application, the applicants will still need to file a full development application in order to be able to commence any works.

The proposed development will include a raft of facilities – including a new football pitch, hostel, football school, and childcare centre – replacing the current layout, which includes only a full-sized football pitch, a small stand for spectators and a clubhouse.

Amongst the eight on the Planning Board who voted in favour of the outline development application was Santa Lucia mayor Charmaine St John.

However, there was controversy surrounding the council’s position after a survey commissioned by the council itself showed that over half the locality’s residents did not agree with the project.

The survey results were published by local councillor Liam Sciberras – who is the only one of five council members elected for the Nationalist Party – on Facebook on the eve of the planning application being heard.

He said that the survey, which was carried out by Vincent Marmara’s Sagalytics, cost the local council €3,500 showed that 53.5% of residents were against the proposed development.

33.6% of residents said that they were in favour and the remaining 12.9% said that the project made no difference to them.

The council met on Wednesday night in an urgent meeting to discuss the project, and Sciberras said that – despite the results of the survey – the four Labour Party councillors voted in favour of supporting the project.

Sciberras said that he had voted in line with the wishes of the majority of the Santa Lucija residents and voted against supporting the project.

“I will leave everyone to reach their own conclusions,” Sciberras wrote.

Sciberras himself intervened in the Planning Board meeting and said that the council’s vote should not be considered because it clearly conflicted with the views of the residents.

The applicant – the Santa Lucia Football Club itself – meanwhile tried to cast doubt on the survey, saying that it did not know what the questions were and had also been contacted by some who said that the questions posed were misleading against the project.

Both Sciberras and St John herself denied that this was the case, saying that the questions had been agreed by all the councillors and had been accepted by Marmara who carried out the survey.  St John also said that “someone was doing a survey in parallel to ours in order to interfere with our results.”

She said that the sample size of the survey was of 343 people – which is equivalent to around 10% of the locality’s population.

On the project itself, St John said that the council was concerned in the access points for the project’s car park, saying that they preferred if these access points were situated on different streets.

Denise Grech on behalf of Moviment Graffitti meanwhile said that residents had been in touch with the NGO to share their concerns that the project is too big for Santa Lucia and contains needless commercialisation.

The project will see the rebuilding of the current complex into a facility which includes a new football pitch, underground parking, a hostel, a football school, and an indoor pool.

The site, covering an area of approximately 16,215m², falls within the limits to development and consists of the Santa Lucia FC football ground, spectator stands, clubhouse, dressing rooms, open parking area and the surrounding gardens facing on three roads, namely Triq il-Begonja, Dawret it-Torri and Vjal l-Oleandri in Santa Lucia.

On Triq il-Begonja, there is a row of three housing blocks and terraced houses. On Dawret it-Torri, there are a series of terraced houses and the locality's series of local shops, whilst adjacent to the site, there is a political club.

On Vjal l-Oleandri, there is a Bocci Club and pitch, whilst the rest is an open area.

The Santa Lucia football pitch was built years ago, with artificial turf then installed to have it in line with today's standards. The football pitch hosts several amateur football leagues which are affiliated with the Malta Football Association.

The development would see the construction of a new FIFA approved size football pitch and spectator stand with media area & control room, a new Santa Lucia FC Club House, a Football School, a hostel for visiting teams and students, underground vehicular and bicycle parking facilities, soft and hard landscaped public open spaces, an indoor swimming pool, a gym and fitness centre and spa and health care centre, a conference space, a childcare centre, small-scale retail and food and drink outlets, an administration block, and a hybrid resource centre.

The hostel would contain 40 bedrooms which provide a total of 96 beds, while the school would cater to a maximum of 200 pupils.

The football's pitch's spectator capacity would be of 822 seats, while the underground car park would provide a total of 191 car spaces and have 50 square metres dedicated for bicycle parking.

The project would make the facility one of the most comprehensive sporting facilities in the country.

The council’s feedback was taken into consideration, and the amendment of the plans for the access points to the facility was declared a ‘reserved matter’ for when a full development application for the project is filed.

The project architect was also asked to remove porticos which were planned to be erected over public pavements.