The Planning Authority has launched a partial review of the 2006 North Harbours Local Plan for the Paceville area with a public consultation, after Cabinet approved the controversial review.

The Times of Malta had reported that amendments to the local plan would mean that a project for the Villa Rosa site could grow from the original amount proposed. 

The Nationalist Party has, meanwhile, formally requested that an urgent meeting of the Parliamentary Environment Committee be convened to discuss the changes to the Local Plans.

The Planning Authority unveiled the objectives of the review, opening it up for submissions from the public.

The objectives of the review, a Planning Authority document reads, is to, among other things, "re-configure the boundaries of the sub-zones within the site without any changes to the overall site boundary," and to "allocate the land uses within the redefined sub-zones to identify the: a) minimum areas of public open space which must exceed the current allocations in the local plan; b) minimum areas of private open space; c) zones where higher quality hotels shall be allowed; d) zones where residential development shall be allowed; e) zones where a mix of uses (office, retail and catering and other appropriate uses) shall be allowed; f) location of carpark/s."

It is also to "clearly establish the allowable building heights for each sub-zone, including through the application of the Height Limitation Adjustment Policy for Hotels of 2014," and "to establish the maximum allowable overall Gross Developable Floorspace (GDF) organised also by sub-zone and by land use."

It states that the objective is also to "ensure that development is strictly restricted within the site boundaries (...) and that it does not create unacceptable environmental impacts on the surrounding environmentally sensitive areas, buildings, features and recreational spaces," and to "better protect the environmentally sensitive areas, buildings, features, and public access within the site."