Objections to ‘grotesque’ hall at Anglu Xuereb villa

The Mosta council and a heritage NGO have strongly objected to the construction of a hall in the ODZ back garden of entrepreneur Angelo Xuereb’s villa, 25 metres from the scheduled Victoria Lines.
Permit application PA/ 00196/22 is awaiting recommendation to demolish a dilapidated greenhouse in the garden of the residence and construct a hall and sanitary facilities, including landscaping and new accesses from Triq Misraħ Għonoq, where Villa Vistana is located in the limits of Mosta.
The applicant is AX Group, the founder and chairman of which is Xuereb, a construction, property development and tourism mogul.
The approval of the development would be perceived as a “grotesque land encroachment for private purposes”, alienating the larger community, according to the local council.
The seemingly minimal and innocent intervention could also set a precedent for future piecemeal development in the area, it warned.

Falling under agricultural areas, the site overlooks the Ġnien l-Għarusa tal-Mosta and the Victoria Lines, both forming part of a recreational zone and covered by environmental management plans and a proposed tree conservation order.
Without going into the merits of the...