Tribunal rejects appeal over proposed St Julian’s mosque

The planning tribunal has rejected an appeal by the Libyan Higher Vocational Institute against the refusal of plans for a mosque and minaret at its St Julian’s campus.

The two-storey mosque was intended only for students, staff and campus administrators and no objections were filed by the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage.

The Planning Authority had refused the application on two grounds. It said the plans did not comply with a policy requiring the wider Ta’ Giorni site to be planned as a whole. And the project did not have clearance from the Commission for the Rights of Persons with Disability (CRPD) when the decision was taken.

The Environment and Planning Review Tribunal confirmed the PA’s decision.

LHVI argued that the mosque was simply an additional facility serving the educational needs of the campus. It said the planning policy did not mean that every improvement to the site had to be included in one single application.

The institute also submitted a master plan covering the 38,600sq.m campus, a 2,890sq.m public garden and a 5,200sq.m green area to the north.

LHVI pointed out that Transport Malta, the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage and the Water Services Corporation had not objected to the project. It also said the CRPD had issued a no-objection by the time the Planning Authority took its decision, meaning any remaining accessibility requirements could have been dealt with through conditions attached to a permit.

In its deliberations on the appeal filed by the institute, the tribunal noted that the site plan submitted with the original application marked out only the area where the mosque was proposed. The rest of the campus was not included in the application.

The tribunal said this meant the application did not cover the wider Ta’ Giorni site as required by planning policy. It also rejected the master plan submitted by LHVI after the case officer had completed his report. The tribunal said the rules did not allow the institute to substantially change the proposal at that late stage.

The tribunal also said the absence of objections from other government bodies could not overcome a breach of planning policy.

Since the main problem could not be solved simply by adding conditions to a permit, the tribunal confirmed the Planning Authority’s refusal.