An Outline Development Application for a huge shopping complex at the Tal-Barrani junction in Hal-Għaxaq has been recommended for approval by the Planning Authority’s case officer.

The site, which is in an Outside Development Zone, consists of a huge 35,767 square metres – equivalent to over three full-size football pitches – and includes the existing Schembri Barbros Ltd Plant, all of its garages, stores and warehouses, the existing Lidl Supermarket, its back and side parking areas and the several retail outlets which face onto Tal-Barrani Road in Zejtun.

The proposal would see the current site be transformed into a sprawling commercial hub which will include a supermarket, offices, retail outlets, food and beverage outlets, a child care centre, and a gym.

The outline application was filed by Anton Schembri of Barbros Group. An Outline Development Permission, if granted, is an approval in principle of the full development subject to a number of reserved matters which would need to be included in a full development permit application, which would have to be filed by the applicant anyway. An outline development permit would override any future policy which might conflict with the project.

The development is foreseen to be spread across three over ground levels and three underground levels.

At ground floor level, 3,500 square metres will be dedicated to the supermarket – which is slated in the outline plans to be at the back of the site.  This makes for a larger supermarket than what exists today: the current Lidl outlet measures at 2,025 square metres.

5,900 square metres will be dedicated to retail outlets while the supermarket will get another 1,000 square metres in storage space. Another 800 square metres is set aside for a Class 6A storage space – with Class 6A being the planning code for a facility dedicated to the storage and distribution of boats. 1,500 square metres will then be dedicated to circulation and access areas, and 316 parking spaces will be created above ground as well.

The first floor will have 6,900 square metres of retail space, another 2,000 square metres of Class 6A storage, 700 square metres of offices and a further 700 squares which will be a child-care centre. 2,400 square metres meanwhile is dedicated to circulation and access areas. 

The second floor will be dedicated entirely to food and beverage outlets, with these taking up 7,000 square metres together with 5,400 square metres of circulation and access areas.

Underground meanwhile, sees the bottom-most level – Level -2 – dedicated solely to parking, with 446 spaces being created.  Level -1 however will include a 2,500 square metres gym, another 5,900 square metres of retail space, 3,200 square metres of Class 6A storage, and 2,000 square metres of circulation and access areas, together with 396 parking spaces.

Level -0.5 meanwhile will include an area for building services and another 542 parking spaces.

All in all, this means that the project will include 1,700 parking spaces together with 18,700 square metres of retail space, 11,300 square metres of circulation and access areas, 7,000 square metres of space for food and beverage outlets, 6,000 square metres of storage space for boats, 3,500 square metres of supermarket customer space and 2,500 square metres in the form of a gym, amongst other facilities.

A Transport Impact Assessment of the project found that the project will generate an average daily traffic of 7,632 car trips, but in its review of the assessment the Planning Authority noted that it relies wholly on the assumption that the current traffic light junction which exists will be replaced by a roundabout.

“This raises several concerns that will need to be addressed if the outline proposal is accepted. In this regard the roundabout junction will need to be in place prior to commencement of operations of any new development on the site and therefore the design of the roundabout junction is to be the first full development application that is to be submitted,” the Planning Authority said in its review of the TIA.

Such a roundabout would provide sufficient capacity for the traffic generated up to 2030 and beyond, according to the review.

A roundabout was already planned for this area as part of the Transport Malta’s 2025 Master Plan and it is noted that Infrastructure Malta still plans to carry out this upgrade. Transport Malta stipulated that due to the scale of the development, the expenses related to the construction of this roundabout must be “fully borne by the developer.”

In its submissions, the Environment & Resources Authority (ERA) said that the environmental impact of the development is unlikely to be significant enough to warrant an Environmental Impact Assessment, but only as long as the proposed junction improvement – ergo the construction of the roundabout – is carried out.

In representations on the project, the Ghaxaq local council did not object to the development but asked that when an activity requiring the use of fireworks is done in the village, the parking area at the back of the site would not be used for safety reasons.

The council also asked that the height of the building is kept to what is stipulated in the plans.

The Zejtun local council meanwhile said that while it “in principle is in favour of such projects and the economic prosperity brought in the region, the negative impacts related to heavy traffic flow and air pollution on the local community cannot be ignored.”

“It is therefore strongly suggested and recommended that a counter initiative by the developers is undertaken as part of their corporate social responsibility practices,” the council said.

The council suggested this initiative to be the implementation of a pedestrianisation project in Misrah Carlo Diacono in Zejtun – a square in Zejtun’s old core – saying that “this project, which is in line with the government's policy to pedestrianize Town centres, would reasonably compensate the impact and adverse effects of this large scale development.”

In its considerations of the project, the Development Management Directorate recommended that the coverage of the whole site shall not exceed 14,112 square metres of roof space and the building profile cannot exceed 10.5 metres in height.

The development must also be setback by a minimum of 15 metres from Tal-Barrani road to allow enough space for the new roundabout, and an extensive landscaping belt must be implemented around the perimeter of the site to allow for proper visual mitigation given that this is ODZ land.

With all this in mind, the case officer recommended that the outline development application be granted.

This is subject to the condition that the first full development application submitted shall include the design of the new roundabout, which must be approved by Transport Malta and Infrastructure Malta, and that the roundabout will be completed before works on the commercial hub begin, with all expenses to be borne by the developer.

The Planning Authority is set to hear the application on Thursday.