The site of the Garden of Eden Wedding Hall in Zurrieq will be converted into a low-lying tourism accommodation development after the Planning Board gave its green light, through an outline application, to the project, the authority said in a statement.

The board specified that before any full development permit may be issued, the applicant needs to ensure that the adjacent site measuring approximately 4,900m2 that had been illegally turned into a car park will be returned back to its original state. Concurrently, the Board approved an application for the removal of the existing concrete surface and the levelling of the fields through agricultural soil topping. The permit also grants permission for the construction of rubble walls around the site.

The board noted that the tourism project was downscaled and was being limited to the area taken up by the existing wedding hall structures. The project will see the demolition of the existing wedding hall and the construction of 12 bungalows with pools, providing a total of 35 guest bedrooms. The project also includes provisions for 13 car parking spaces, landscaping and the reinstatement of rubble walls.

The existing structures which consist of two reception halls, a nightclub, and a smaller car park are located within an Area of Ecological Importance and High Landscape Value known as 'il-Munqar'.

The board noted that the new development reads as a much higher quality rural design structure than what currently exists on site, and respects further the wider context of its environs. Additionally, the guest room structures are designed to not rise above one storey and so blend into the topography of the area and have a minimal visual impact. In Paceville, a cluster of scheduled Grade 2 townhouses primarily in Triq il-Wilga, will have their building height raised by an additional two floors and a receded floor after the Planning Board granted an outline development permit.

The approved massing will eliminate the unsightly blank third-party walls that exist from adjacent apartment blocks and hotels. Although the project is acceptable in principle, the design, use, parking and setback at the upper level is to be determined during the processing of a full development application.