A planning application which could herald the way for intensive apartment developments in Manikata has attracted the opposition of residents and politicians alike.

A planning control application is seeking to change the zoning of a vacant site in the hamlet of Manikata from an area which is set out for residential villa development to one which is a “residential priority area.”

This will change the type of development which is allowed on the site and also increase the allowable height from two storeys to three storeys with a three-courses basement.

The site is situated on Triq ix-Xaghra l-Hamra in Manikata, and measures 2,677 square metres. 

It is within the development zone, but overlooks the Outside Development Zone which surrounds the hamlet and is also a stone’s throw away from the village’s Richard England-design church.

The applicant – Carmel Camilleri – listed that the main proposed use of the site is for “proposed residential development.”

The application has drawn criticism from residents and also from politicians representing them.

PN MP and former Mellieha councillor Ivan Castillo was the first to take to social media to declare a “hands off Manikata” and questioned when the country will learn to stop the “rape and destruction” of the environment.

Castillo said that many residents had spoken to him to express their anger at the application “which will see an enormous piece of land changed into a zone where massive development right in front of the Manikata church can be done.”

Castillo continued that this can never be acceptable and that Manikata is united in order to make its voice heard.

“There have been too many abuses in this country and in Manikata itself. It’s as if we cannot give this country a break and we’ve promised to destroy every beautiful and ecologically important part of it which is left,” the PN MP said.

Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo – who was also a Mellieha councillor before being elected to Parliament – said that the Manikata community has always been in his heart and this is why he cannot ignore the “intensive and negative effect” that the application would have if it were to be approved by the Planning Authority.

“This zone is not the place for intensive development, especially when one considers that it is only a few metres away from the Manikata church which has a high level of protection,” Bartolo said.

He said that he will support the residents to defend the community’s interests.

Manikata does not have its own local council, but falls under the administration of the Mellieha local council.