Gozo set to lose more land to 2006 building zone extension

The Malta Environment and Planning Authority will be setting the parameters for development on a 12,241 square metre site at Ta’ Mawua, in Gharb, Gozo, which had been added to development boundaries during the controversial ‘rationalisation exercise’ of 2006.

The site, as big as two football pitches, will be divided in 21 land parcels where development will not be exceeding two storeys. 

The Rationalisation Exercise Document – the document regulating development in new building sites added to the development boundaries in 2006 – stated that the inclusion of the site within the development zone was subject to the result of a “comprehensive archaeological study”.

This meant that a holistic study had to be conducted before MEPA issues guidelines for development in this area through a planning control application.

But at a meeting held in August 2012 between MEPA, the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage, and the architect in charge of the application, it was agreed that instead of a comprehensive study covering the whole area an archaeological evaluation was to be carried out by each landowner individually, when applying for a development permit.

MEPA will now be setting the parameters for development on the site through a planning control application in absence of a comprehensive study.

The Planning Directorate is recommending that Development Planning Applications within the site area are subject to an archaeological evaluation as required by the Superintendence of the Culture Heritage.