Portelli’s Qala application dealt final blow by PA tribunal

The Environment and Planning Review Tribunal has dealt a final blow to a permit issued last year to property magnate Joseph Portelli to transform a ruin in Ta’ Muxi in Qala, into a villa with pool, declaring that the application as “dismissed”.

Following a storm of controversy after the approval of the villa by the Planning Authority board, Portelli had already declared that he would be renouncing the permit.

The permit was issued under the maligned rural policy which permits the transformation of ruins in to villas with pools. The policy is now being revamped. Elizabeth Ellul, who chaired the board which issued the Qala permit, has been assigned to a board in charge of the regularising minor irregularities.

The Qala local council expressed its satisfaction that the controversial villa application of Joseph Portelli at Ta’ Muxi had been definitively dismissed.

During a recent sitting the Tribunal confirmed that the application had been dismissed and that the period for further appeals had lapsed. In view of this the Tribunal took no further cognizance of the case.

Qala mayor Paul Buttigieg said the council welcomed the decision with satisfaction and declared that it would not stop the resistance to other applications which were ruining Qala and Gozo forever.

The Qala local council and Din L-Art Helwa were represented by Dr Claire Bonello in their appeal against the permit issued last year.