Change of planning rules in the pipeline to accommodate Villa Rosa developer

Aqra bil-Malti

The government has ordered the Planning Authority (PA) to start a partial review of the St George’s Bay local plan in St Julian’s. The review is intended to accommodate a project submitted by Anthony Camilleri, known as Tal-Franċiż.

The Shift can reveal that after a discussion at Cabinet level, it was agreed that planning rules at St George’s Bay should be altered so that Tal-Franċiż can build his €305 million project, which critics, including Din l-Art Ħelwa, have described as “atrocious”.

The Shift is informed that while officials at the Planning Authority advised the prime minister to refuse the developer’s pressure, the project was deemed important for the tourism industry.

Camilleri is one of the country’s major developers, although he keeps a low profile. Through his company, Garnet Investments, he proposes turning the historic Villa Rosa area into an “iconic mixed development.”

It will consist of two towers, one reaching 34 storeys and another 27 storeys, with almost 800 serviced apartments and 247 hotel rooms. The project also includes 16,000 square metres of office space.

The development will occupy 237,000 square metres of built area – the size of 33 football pitches.

According to the current local plan, Camilleri’s project cannot happen because the area only allows much smaller and lower developments.

Given the Cabinet’s green light, the process will now lead to the Planning Authority opening it up for consultation. The proposal will recommend a partial review of the area’s local plan.

After the consultation, the government will make a final decision. The Planning Authority can then approve Camilleri’s proposed development.

Camilleri would then be able to build more than double the current permitted buildings in the area.

The Prime Minister’s Office did not reply to questions asking for a confirmation of the start of a partial review of the area’s local plan.

This is the second time the government has helped the developer achieve his aims. In 2022, the Lands Authority issued a tender to sell a small public alleyway separating the private land on which Camilleri’s project is planned, which was needed for the proposed development.

The Lands Authority’s tender specified that the alley needed to be kept free and unobstructed only up to a height of 5.5 metres, fitting Camilleri’s project design.

The tender, which closed two days before the 2022 general elections, attracted only one bidder – Camilleri.

While, reportedly, the alleyway’s first valuation by government architects was over a million, it was somehow reduced to just €134,000.

According to a preliminary assessment of the project by the Environment and Resources Authority, the project would have temporary or permanent negative effects on all 38 different types of impact surveyed, including effects on land, sea, water, visual landscape, ecology, air quality, and cultural heritage.

If approved, as expected, the Villa Rosa project will join the controversial DB Group project, which will be situated further up the road, and the “cheese grater” 33-storey tower by Paul Xuereb’s PX Lettings nearby, as well as Joseph Portelli’s Mercury Towers a few hundred metres away.