Owner proposes batching plant on site of Siggiewi illegalities

Enforcement is delayed on illegal site with application to green-light a batching plant

The plans foresee a sloped landscaped area to screen the development from view
The plans foresee a sloped landscaped area to screen the development from view

A developer is seeking a permit for a batching plant that will be built on agricultural land outside development zones in Siggiewi, in the vicinity of the falconry centre nearby.

The same site is the subject of a planning enforcement order over various illegalities, issued back in November.

The application, presented by Univest Ltd shareholder Jason Mifsud, foresees the regularisation of illegal offices, stores and a construction yard spread over the 8,935sq.m site. Former environment minister George Pullicino is the project’s architect.

The plans foresee a sloped landscaped area to screen the development from view.

Nationalist MEP candidate Michael Briguglio originally reported the illegalities to the Planning Authority in November, which subsequently ordered Univest to stop any further work and reinstate the field to its original state within 15 days of its notice, on pain of a daily fine.

The list of illegalities documented by the PA included the excavation of soil, the demolition and removal of several boundary walls surrounding the site, the change of use from an agricultural site to one used for parking heavy construction vehicles, and the storage of steel rods used in the pre-fabrication of concrete.

Following the expiry of the 15-day period, a PA spokesperson revealed that a sanctioning application had been submitted. Now it emerges that the developer has not only applied to sanction the illegalities, but has raised the stakes by applying for a full-blown batching plant.

The application to regularise the illegalities effectively delays any enforcement action on the site.

The site has a long history of planning enforcements, while the owner’s attempts at regularising have always failed.

In 2004, an enforcement order was issued against a standing stonewall without permit and excavation works. But 18 years later the case is still listed as “pending direct action”. The PA had already refused an application to regularise these works in 2006.

In 2008, the PA issued another enforcement order against the “construction of a large warehouse, garages, stables and boundary walls without permit.” Ten years later the case is listed as having been referred for “direct action vetting”. Owner Epiphanio Mifsud appealed the enforcement order, and the PA’s appeals tribunal rejected his appeal in 2011. Another application to sanction the illegalities was later dismissed by the PA and confirmed on appeal in 2013.

Indeed, rules introduced in 2011 had stopped allowing the PA to regularise development outside development zones that took place after 2008. But these rules were reversed in the new planning laws of 2014 – which means developers can still apply to sanction illegalities outside development zones.

Still, the conversion of agricultural land for industrial uses is not foreseen by the PA’s rural policy, making such an approval highly questionable.