Plans for what would have been Malta's first water cremation facility are set to be refused by the Planning Authority.

Jeremy Muscat had applied to build an aquamation centre and cemeterial facilities on a vacant site along Triq il-Papa Piju XII and Triq ic-Cimiterju close to the Zabbar cemetery in a bid to offer the service of alkaline hydrosis - or water cremation.

Aquamation is a process where in the deceased is immersed into a mixture of water and an alkali and then heated to around 150°C inside a pressurised container for around four hours - a process which results in the dissolution of all of the body except for the bones, which are then dried and reduced into a fine white powder.

But the Planning Authority has recommended that the plans, which will come up for Planning Board scrutiny in the first week of the New Year, are refused due to it running against planning policy and due to a lack of support by Health Authorities.

The applicant proposed the excavation of two basement levels which would have included the aquamation facilities, burial chambers, and a columbarium, and the building of a ground floor level which would have included a ceremonial hall and a garden with a columbarium and tombstones.

In an interview with the Times of Malta in 2024, the applicants had been hopeful that the proposal would be favourably considered by the Planning Authority, but cold water was poured onto the idea first and foremost by health authorities.

The Planning Authority's Case Officer noted that the Environmental Health Directorate had objected to the application since current legislation on burials does not regulate water cremation as a method of burial.

Legislation is limited to traditional burials and cremation by fire, and does not stipulate cremation by water, the directorate essentially implied.

The project also attracted an objection from the Zabbar Local Council and over 100 residents. The council said that "the land should be allocated for traditional burial methods only and that the current legislation does not regulate the operations of Aquamation."

The council also said that the centre would be catering for all of Malta if built, raising concerns that it would create more traffic congestion in the area and also pointing out that the plans include only limited parking.

The plans, the council said, would also hinder its own idea to change Misrah San Gakbu - located at the end of the same street that the facility is being proposed in - to a pedestrian friendly zone because of the increased traffic flow.

The council also said that the plans do not respect the architecture of the chapel which is found in the Zabbar cemetery next door and which dates back to 1676. The cemetery itself dates back to 1813, making it one of Malta's oldest, the council said.

The council also sought further information on the facility's environmental impact, on how it would be supplied with water and how it would dispose of the water, and sought a social impact assessment as well.

The Case Officer said that the proposed development would "result in a standalone cemetery therefore counter to Policy SMSO02 of the South Malta Local Plan and the Cemeteries Policy and Design Guidance 2015."

The report continued that the proposal could only be considered once it was demonstrated that "the proposed development is an extension to the existing cemetery; the existing cemetery facilities cannot accommodate more burials within the existing plots; and the proposed extension does not encroach within the minimum distance permitted by Public Health Authorities."

The project architect was also asked to submit information requested by a host of authorities such as Transport Malta, the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, the Commission for the Rights of Persons with Disability, Enemalta, and the Environmental Health Directorate among others.

The information requested was not submitted to the Planning Authority.

"Whilst the need for alternative funerary techniques is recognised, the proposed development runs counter to the Partial Review of the Cemeteries Policy and Design Guidance 2015," the case officer concluded.

The project was therefore recommended for refusal.