Naxxar Council opposes affordable housing project over ‘near-total loss’ of public open space

The Local Council of Naxxar has formally opposed a proposed affordable housing development on a major site in the locality, warning that the project would erase one of the last opportunities for a substantial public green space in the area.

Mayor Chris Deguara delivered the warning during the final week of the election campaign, urging both Labour Party and Nationalist Party to publicly declare their position on the development and commit to protecting residents’ quality of life.

At the centre of the dispute is a 10,500-square-metre site which had originally been earmarked for a Disability Hub project. The council said that under the original plans, the development would have occupied only 1,600 square metres of the site, while the remaining 8,900 square metres were to be dedicated to landscaped green open space accessible to the public.

Deguara said the council had supported the original proposal precisely because it struck a balance between necessary development and the growing demand for open recreational areas in Naxxar.

“The original Disability Hub proposal was not simply another construction project,” the Mayor said. “It was a balanced project that addressed an important social need while returning the vast majority of the land back to residents as open green space.”

However, the original project never materialised and part of the land was later allocated for a government distribution centre, which occupied approximately 1,900 square metres of the site. The council objected to that intervention, citing concerns over increased traffic, infrastructure pressure and the cumulative impact of continuous development on the locality.

Following that intervention, the remaining developable site was reduced to approximately 8,600 square metres.

According to the council, the latest affordable housing proposal now leaves only around 1,200 square metres undeveloped — a dramatic reduction from the originally promised 8,900 square metres of public open space.

The council insists that even this remaining area cannot legitimately be described as open public space, as it largely consists of internal landscaped areas and front gardens incorporated within the housing development itself, rather than freely accessible community land.

“This proposal removes the very principle on which the original project was accepted,” Deguara said. “Residents were promised a large green public space. What is being proposed today is almost the complete disappearance of that commitment.”

The Mayor also raised concerns about the scale of the development, particularly building heights reaching up to 17.5 metres, warning that the project would significantly alter the character of the surrounding residential area.

He said the locality is already struggling with increasing traffic congestion, a shortage of recreational spaces and mounting pressure from overdevelopment.

“Naxxar residents already experience the realities of overdevelopment every day — traffic congestion, a lack of green areas and the absence of spaces where families and young people can simply enjoy outdoor life,” he said. “The council cannot support a project that intensifies those problems while offering virtually nothing back to the community.”

Instead, the council is proposing that the site be transformed into a genuine open-air public space focused on recreation, wellbeing and community use.

The proposal being put forward by the council includes landscaped gardens, sports and exercise facilities, recreational areas for families and underground parking facilities designed to meet infrastructural needs without consuming surface-level open space.

Deguara described the site as one of the last remaining opportunities for a meaningful public green area in the locality, noting that surrounding land is privately owned and already earmarked for future development.

“If this land is lost to intensive development, it will be lost permanently,” he said. “There are very few large sites left in Naxxar where residents can realistically gain substantial public open space.”

The Mayor stressed that the council’s opposition is not directed against affordable housing itself, but against what it views as an unbalanced development that sacrifices community wellbeing and environmental quality.

He said the council has a responsibility to defend the interests of more than 18,000 residents and ensure that long-term planning decisions prioritise quality of life rather than maximising development potential.

“With the election approaching, residents deserve to know whether the country’s political leaders are prepared to protect the community’s last major open spaces,” Deguara said. “This is about the future character of Naxxar and the wellbeing of the people who live here.”

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