Plans for a block of apartments which residents fear will bury the old Manikata church beneath new buildings have been recommended for approval by the Planning Authority’s case officer.
The development, which is being proposed by RAD-ALT 1 Ltd, is situated on Triq il-Knisja l-Qadima in Manikata right next door to the hamlet’s old parish church, which is a Grade 2 scheduled building and which was recently restored.
The site is presently occupied by a single-storey vernacular building. The roof of the building collapsed in around November 2024 and had attracted concern from the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, which had said that the proposed development needed to protect the building’s original features.
The development in question does propose to maintain the vernacular building, but then also proposes the construction of a ground-floor garage and maisonette together with six apartments and two overlying penthouses.
The development had attracted several objections including from the Archdiocese of Malta, the Manikata Residents Association, Din l-Art Ħelwa, the St Joseph Parish Church, and the St Joseph Manikata Band Club.
The Mellieha Local Council also objected to the development, saying that it breached the Local Plan on multiple instances, noting that Manikata is designated as a Residential Priority Area mostly for terraced dwellings and other sites for villas, and its role as a small urban settlement within the countryside must not be compromised.
“As most urban centres, Manikata knows its origins in the environs of the old Saint Joseph Church, which is evident even from the building involved in this proposal. In the absence of a designated Urban Conservation Area for this hamlet, the few remaining features depicting Manikata as a small urban settlement, should be conserved, notwithstanding the leniency and oversights that prevailed particularly during the last decade,” the council had said.
“Irrespective of any development that has already been permitted, the Council reiterates that besides all the policies mentioned above, the Planning Authority should be morally committed to conserve our heritage and prohibit the overshadowing of the old Manikata Church,” it added.
The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage had later acknowledged as justified a technical report as to the collapse of the ceiling of the vernacular building, and also noted that the collapsed vaulted ceiling would be re-instated as part of the project.
As a result, the Superintendence did not object to the proposal “strictly from a cultural heritage perspective.”
The case officer noted that the apartment block will be setback from the vernacular building and from the church, and that the design shows that the building includes various stepping from the front and side elevation in order to lessen as much as possible its visual impact from street level.
The parish church and residents association had argued that despite the proposed stepping, there is still a substantial visual impact. “If approved, the new development will completely enclose the existing historical church. The lane between the application site and the church is already enclosed and deprived of light,” it had noted.
When it comes to parking, the case officer noted that the proposed development should include a total of 11 parking spaces, noting then that “the existing site can be considered committed for 1 parking space therefore the total requirement is 10 parking spaces.”
The case officer observed that the proposed ground floor garage can accommodate six parking spaces, meaning that there is a shortfall of four parking spaces which would be compensated for through a suggested contribution of €17,000 to the Planning Authority’s Urban Improvements Fund.
With the above in mind, the case officer recommended that the application be granted.
