The Swieqi Local Council and the San Gwann Local Council have filed scathing objections to a private school’s application to build a new four-storey premises to relocate to outside the development zone land.
The planning application was filed by the private Newark School, which seeks to relocate its operations from its current premises in Sliema to a site which sits opposite the roundabout facing the Liquid Club in San Gwann and 100 metres away from the St Michael Foundation School.
The proposed development is for a four-storey building which would be built over a level of basement parking and accommodate five classes for a nursery hosting 93 children and 26 classes from Kinder 1 to Year 11 hosting up to 26 students per class, with the total being 769 students.
The educational facility will also include a multipurpose hall, a library, science and IT labs, a sub-station and other ancillary facilities, the application reads.
The total site area is listed as being 2,628sqm, and the application form designates the main existing use of the site as “Agricultural Field / Wasteland.”
The site of the development is in San Gwann, but the Swieqi local council filed a lengthy objection to the project at the end of April, slamming it and calling for the Planning Authority to refuse the application.
The project is situated at a junction which is used by residents to access or leave Ta’ L-Ibragg and Swieqi through a rural one-lane road.
In a statement signed by mayor Noel Muscat, the council noted that the site is situated in an Outside Development Zone (ODZ), and that ODZ means that these green areas “need to be protected, not allowed to be invaded by development.”
“The Planning Authority cannot continue to allow the eating up of areas which are declared as ODZ to make room for further building. Building can only take place in areas allocated for development, otherwise the Planning policies might as well be shredded,” the local council said.
The council noted that the application is for the re-location of an existing school which is currently located within the development zone in Parisio Street in Sliema.
“So this application is for re-locating a school from a building within the Development Zone to one outside the Development Zone. Such a regression in planning terms cannot be allowed. There is no reason why a school of the nature proposed cannot be located within the development zone,” the local council said.
It further noted that the construction of a school on ODZ land is not contemplated for within the Rural Policy and Design Guidance 2014 document, particularly as there are no existing buildings on the site.
The objection continues that there is “no justification” for a four-storey building to be built on an ODZ plot.
It referred to the St Michael’s School, which exists in the adjacent site which is also ODZ, but the council said that the school was granted permission in 2004, which was well before the publication of new local plans and the Rural Policy and Design Guidance document.
This means, according to the council, that the existence of the St Michael’s School cannot be taken as representing a commitment to develop the area.
“In 2006, the Government declared, by approving the Local Plans, that no further development would be allowed to take place outside defined Development Zones, and this even though buildings had already been constructed ODZ before this. The Government basically said that ‘this is enough, no more.’ So there can be no justification for going against the Planning Authority’s own policies,” the council said.
Finally, the council said that it is “extremely concerned about the negative impact which the flow of vehicles (parents / staff) and mini-buses into the proposed school premises will have, particularly on the many cars belonging to residents of Swieqi who regularly use this end of Triq tal-Ibrag to exit their locality.”
It noted that the roundabout that this school will be situated close to “is the scene of atrocious traffic jams every single morning, with queues of cars coming out of Madliena and Swieqi towards the roundabout reaching as far as the junction with Triq il-Madliena.”
“The traffic from Madliena will prevent school traffic from turning into the school premises, meaning that a backlog will be created on Triq tal-Balal which will impede normal morning traffic between San Gwann and Naxxar; or the traffic turning into the school will prevent Swieqi traffic from reaching the roundabout, leading to more delays and frustration than we have today,” the council said.
“Everyone will be late. This is a major intersection, and the flow of traffic at this point cannot be impeded for the sake of a school which should not be there in the first place,” it added.
On the above basis, the Swieqi Local Council said that the application should be refused.
The San Gwann local council meanwhile filed an objection which was published on the Planning Authority’s servers on Friday morning, after this story went to print.
In its objection, the council said that the site in question is not adequate for the proposed development for three reasons.
The first is that the entry for school transport and for the underground car park proposed in the project is situated on a road which already has several problems and limitations.
“Almost at every time during the day there is heavy traffic, and with this proposal, the problems will continue to increase,” the council observed, as it questioned whether a Traffic Impact Assessment has been done.
The council also noted that the site is very close to a construction plant and other industrial activities which produce high levels of PM10 and PM25 emissions, which is not the right environment for a school.
The council further noted that the open air space proposed within the plans to cater for the children who will attend the school at various levels is “much less” than that requested by subsidiary legislation on the subject.
The statement had cross-party support and was signed by mayor Dominic Cassar and minority leader Trevor Fenech.
The NGO Moviment Graffitti also filed an objection to the project for reasons which were very similar to those of the Swieqi Local Council.