2013 in review | The five worst planning decisions

The Mistra permit

The most controversial decision by the present board chaired by Vince Cassar was to issue a development permit for a 770-apartment project on the Mistra ridge. Moreover the board refused to revoke the outline permit issued by a previous board in 2008.

The decision was taken after Transport Malta, chaired by former Labour Party CEO James Piscopo, dropped its traffic objection despite reports showing that the additional 770 apartments will create a grid lock at Xemxija hill.

The number of apartments was reduced from 990 to 770 apartments in November 2012. No attempt was subsequently made to further reduce the scale of the development. The project's final approval is expected to resurrect the controversial road passing through Malta's most pristine rural areas after the original project was dropped in 2007 after protests by Manikata farmers. 

Moreover the decision not to revoke the original permit was taken behind closed doors on the eve of the public hearing.  The board also turned down a motion supported by 5 board members to downscale the development.

ODZ development in Gudja

In November another controversial outline permit confirmed by the new board was that of an ODZ old people's home in Gudja. Most controversially, no environmental impact assessment (EIA) was ever conducted on the site, but the case officer's report reveals that "archeologically sensitive areas" surround the site and that a possibility exists for further remains to be uncovered. Despite this information, the project was still exempted from an EIA.

The case officer now recommends clearance from the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage before works commence.

The two-storey development is set to include a chapel and other facilities, including living and dining areas. 26 parking spaces will be located at basement level.

The site lies in areas known as Ta' Gluba, which lies in very close proximity to rock-cut tombs at Tal-Millieri. Most of the site is covered by agricultural land and includes one dwelling unit, which is proposed for demolition. The outline permit for this development was issued in April 2009. The application was originally refused in July 2008, but the decision was overturned a year later by the defunct Development Control Commission, despite the case officer's insistence that the development should be refused.

In order to justify their approval, the planning directorate insisted that the area to be built outside the development zone was in effect compensated by open gaps within that part of the site, corresponding to the Category 1 Settlement. According to the case officer's report, one-fourth of the site is located in a Category 1 Settlement where two-storey residential development is allowed; while the rest of the site is classified as a Strategic Open Gap, where no development except afforestation is allowed. Moreover the site is categorized as an Area of Agricultural Value.

Decision to allow Enemalta to use HFO

On 6 September, the MEPA board decided to  postpone any decision on the continued use of heavy fuel oil (HFO) at the Delimara power station up until March 2014.

The current Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) permit issued under the previous administration allowed Enemalta to continue using HFO up until 30 June 2013 in the interim. The MEPA board's decision effectively allowed Enemalta's permission to continue using HFO.

MEPA justified the decision because an independent report on the concentration of pollution in the southern villages resulting from the burning of HFO had not yet been finalised. MEPA claimed this was down to a delay in the commissioning of the engines for the Delimara phase two extension.

The BWSC-constructed power station can use both the cheap but polluting HFO, as well as the more expensive but cleaner gasoil diesel to operate. The plant can also be converted to natural gas, but at a considerable expense. But government claims that switching to diesel could interrupt Malta's security of supply.

Labour, elected on a platform to convert the power station to run on natural gas, back in 2011 stated that the Delimara extension should immediately shift to gasoil diesel before being converted to natural gas. But this commitment was not included in the party's general election manifesto, even though it described the Delimara plant as a "factory for cancer and asthma".

Immediately after being elected to power, the new Labour government announced that the use of HFO would continue up until the conversion to natural gas is completed, in the shortest time possible.

The current IPPC permit's conditions stipulate that Delimara's monitoring committee - a panel composed of Enemalta officials and local council representatives - analyse emissions data gathered over the first six months of the year, for a decision that was to be taken on 30 June 2013. The committee is still awaiting an independent report by the Air Quality Management Resource Centre of the University of the West of England, Bristol. But a preliminary baseline report prepared by the same company, based on monitoring results between 2009 and 2012, concluded that "no conclusive evidence" existed of emissions from the Delimara power station contributing to pollution concentrations in Marsaxlokk, Birzebbugia or neighbouring towns. Traffic, it found, was a more likely source of air pollution

A dwelling next to a temple

In September the Environment and Planning Tribunal approved a 96-square-metre dwelling 10 metres away from the Ta' Hagrat temples.

In March 2013 the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage not only objected to the construction of a new dwelling due to its proximity to the World Heritage Site Ta' Hagrat, but went as far as calling on MEPA to revise development boundaries to safeguard the site.

In a strongly worded objection issued on 8 March, the Superintendence objected to the "intensive development a few metres away from the Ta' Hagrat World Heritage Site and well within the buffer zone of the monument". 

UNESCO had communicated the outline of the buffer zone to the Superintendence in 2011. "This urbanisation should not be allowed to spread, and if necessary, a review of existing development boundaries in the area should be carried out in view of the UNESCO buffer zone," the Superintendence argued.

But after a meeting with Heritage Malta and MEPA held in May, the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage issued its clearance for the development, after plans were changed to address some of its concerns. In its letter, the Superintendence still noted that the development will take place in an archeologically sensitive area "located 10 metres away from the Ta' Hagrat temples".

But the Superintendence justified its clearance for the development, citing new plans presented by the developer limiting construction to the development zone, and the removal of the originally proposed swimming pool and driveway. It also noted that no rock cutting was to take place on the sensitive site.

The case officer report still called on the Environment Planning Commission to refuse this development, since part encroached on an Outside Development Zone. But after the removal of the vehicular access from the ODZ, the Environment Planning Commission, chaired by architect Franco Montezin, anonymously approved the project. An earlier application to demolish the existing garage and erect semi-basement garages, apartments and a penthouse was refused on 25 July 2008.

The return of Portomaso

In November, MEPA's new 'part-time' appeals board, appointed by the new Labour government in July, issued a permit for the Tumas Group to construct 46 villas on an artificial lagoon at Portomaso.

The controversial extension to Portomaso had been turned down by the MEPA board on 26 April 2012, after chairman Austin Walker used his casting vote. The board members had been tied with six votes in favour and six against, after a four-hour debate held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre. 

The new appeals aboard that decided to overturn the MEPA board decision is composed of Labour candidate and lawyer Simon Micallef Stafrace, architect and Freeport chairman Robert Sarsero, and MEPA official Martin Saliba. At both stages, the main bone of contention was a clause in the previous Portomaso permit of 1996 which stated that no further extension or development could be carried out in the area.

Developers Tumas Group argued that the local plan approved 10 years later included this particular site as suitable for development. On that occasion Labour's representative on the MEPA board, Roderick Galdes - today parliamentary secretary for animal welfare and agriculture - had voted in favour of the project.

The new appeals board revoked the 2012 decision and ordered MEPA to issue the controversial permit within 30 days.

The area in question, described as the "southern ecological zone", was deemed important mainly because of the populations of Sphenopus divaricatus (Wedgefoot Grass) and Anthemis urvilleana (Maltese Sea Chamomile) that were recorded within this zone. The 1995 environmental impact statement had suggested that the area containing Wedgefoot Grass might qualify for Level 2 protection as an Area of Ecological Importance. But subsequent ecological surveys have shown that the plant has disappeared from the area.

Portomaso residents objecting to the project argued that the Development Planning Act states that no development plan can reverse or even modify the terms and conditions of a development permission.

The Tumas Group also forms part of Gem Holdings, a joint venture with the Gasan Group, which acts as the Maltese partner in the Electrogas consortium that will construct Malta's new 200MW LNG-powered power plant.