Rare PL-PN unity as Siġġiewi vows to stop crematorium

Nationalist and Labour councillors in Siġġiewi have united in a rare bipartisan stand against the Planning Authority’s approval of a controversial crematorium, pledging an appeal, a request to suspend the permit and a wider campaign to stop construction.

An urgent council meeting held a day after the approval adopted a motion condemning the decision “without reservation” and committing the council to pursue further action, including proceedings before the Court of Appeal if necessary.

Proposed by PN mayor Ryan Cachia and seconded by deputy mayor Stephanie Vassallo, the motion promises cooperation with organisations and residents to prevent the Ta’ Brija project from proceeding.

The council claimed that the approval breaches the PA’s policies and that no objective scientific analysis of the development’s impacts on residents has been carried out.

It also accused the Environment and Resources Authority of failing to provide its opinion despite being requested and, according to the motion, legally obliged to respond.

ERA’s ‘strange’ silence had already drawn criticism during the planning hearing, where objectors challenged the PA’s treatment of its non-response as no objection.

Among those confronting the board was former Nationalist finance minister and European Commissioner for Health John Dalli, whose family farmhouse lies effectively beside the proposed development.

Dalli questioned why the application was being rushed, demanded assurances about residents’ health and challenged the project’s commercial viability, asking whether bodies would have to be imported from abroad to sustain it.

Despite objections from Dalli, residents, the council and former Nationalist MP Karol Aquilina, the PA approved funeral undertaker Mario Tonna’s application, PA/07540/25.

The case officer assessed the proposal as an extension to the historic Ta’ Brija cemetery rather than a standalone crematorium, a classification challenged by objectors who said the cemetery had not been used for burials for decades.

The Shift previously reported that Tonna, known as Ta’ Santu, acquired the adjacent land from two businessman brothers from Birkirkara known to have close ties to Prime Minister Robert Abela and his wife, Lydia. The conditions attached to the transaction remain unknown.

The approval also gives Tonna’s 2025 application an advantage over Active Group’s competing Paola proposal, filed in 2021, which has secured only outline permission and still requires further assessment.

The council said it will distribute its motion to every household and business in Siġġiewi and seek support from national politicians, regional representatives and local associations.