Planning Authority delays decision on Ġgantija buffer zone flats after NGOs challenge heritage assessment

The government’s Planning Authority postponed a decision on a controversial apartment development planned just metres from the Ġgantija Temples in Xagħra after NGOs argued that their technical objections to a heritage assessment had been ignored.

Planning Board chairperson Emmanuel Camilleri adjourned the application for six weeks following a heated exchange during the board meeting, giving activists time to raise their concerns directly with the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage.

Activists told the board that NGOs Din l-Art Ħelwa, Wirt Għawdex and Għawdix had submitted a technical document outlining what they said were serious shortcomings in the assessment. They argued the Planning Authority had ignored their submission, first claiming it had been sent after the deadline and later stating it came from a different email address than the one used in earlier objections.

Planning Authority executive chair Johann Butigieg insisted that the PA’s role was not to judge the technical validity of the Heritage Impact Assessment.

Still, Camilleri postponed the vote, saying the six-week delay would allow the NGOs to present their concerns to the heritage watchdog before the Planning Board revisits the application.

The project involves the construction of a three-storey block comprising around 22 apartments and 20 garages, roughly 150 metres from the prehistoric Ġgantija Temples, one of the world’s oldest free-standing structures and a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The development, proposed by developer Emmanuel Farrugia, has been controversial since it was first approved by the Planning Authority in 2023.

At the time, the board granted the permit despite the absence of a Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA), a study typically required for developments close to UNESCO sites.

The applicant argued, through his architect, that the site was located in an area of archaeological importance rather than within the official UNESCO buffer zone, and that such an assessment was therefore unnecessary.

The Planning Authority accepted that argument and approved the project in November 2023.

However, the permit was revoked in March 2024 after it emerged that the development site does, in fact, fall within the buffer zone defined in UNESCO’s 2015 management plan for the Ġgantija complex.

The application returned to the Planning Board this week, this time accompanied by the required Heritage Impact Assessment.

The report concluded that the development would not negatively affect the integrity of the Ġgantija site. According to the assessment, the proposed building would be visible from the surrounding landscape but largely from within the buffer zone rather than from within the temple complex itself. It also argued that the project would sit within the existing skyline of the Xagħra settlement and would not intrude on panoramic views towards the southeast.