Courts uphold residents’ appeal against Mistra permit's renewal

The courts have asked the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal to re-hear an appeal against the renewal of a permit originally issued in 2013 for the erection of a 12-storey high-rise instead of the Mistra village in Xemxija.

The court considered the reasons given by the EPRT to turn down the appeal filed by residents as invalid.

Excavation works for the project had began in March, despite the project still being subject to a pending court appeal.

Residents and NGOs quickly filed a parliamentary petition against the 12-storey complex, requesting a review of the permit given and asking that the works stop until the result of the case at the Court of Appeals is announced.

The project proposed by Charles Camilleri’s Gemxija Limited is set to turn the low-rise cluster of bungalows in to a 12-storey, 744-residential unit complex on the ridge. 

The project was first given the go-ahead through an outline permit approved under a PN-led administration in 2009, with the full permit being approved under a Labour government in 2013.

The Opposition's representative, Marthese Portelli, had then voted against the project, which was supported at the time by the Labour appointee to the Planning Authority board, Clayton Bartolo, now minister for tourism.

In 2013, the Planning Ombudsman had concluded the Planning Authority was in breach of its own policies when issuing both the outline permit in 2009 and the full permit four years later.

The permit was renewed in 2018 despite being in breach of a policy regulating high rise developments which specifically bans tall buildings on ridges. But the PA had cited a specific policy in the local plan identifying the site for the Floor Area Ratio mechanism which allows extra storeys in return for retaining part of the land as an open space. 

The decision was hailed as a major victory for residents by Moviment Graffitti.