Tribunal turns down Ta’ Cenc developer’s appeal

Plans to construct villas on the Mgarr ix-Xini promontory have been dealt another setback after the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal turned down an appeal by developer Victor Borg against a letter by former chairman Andrew Calleja. The letter made it clear that no further development can be allowed in Mgarr ix-Xini.

A final decision on this massive project is still pending but a recommendation to refuse the development has already been issued by the Planning Directorate on the basis that the development violates the structure plan and the local plans.

By turning down the appeal the developers could have lost their last chance to overturn the interpretation of the local plan given by the MEPA board.

The letter sent to the developers in September 2006 stated that MEPA board agreed with the interpretation of the local plan given by Minister George Pullicino who was previously responsible for MEPA that development in Mgarr ix-Xini "is to be limited to what is already existing in this area."

The local plan for this area states that the Authority should "limit development in the lower part of the plateau near Mgarr ix-Xini." 

The developers had interpreted this phrase as one limiting and not excluding development in Mgarr ix-Xini.

In their appeal the developers insisted that this letter amounted to a decision against the project going ahead.  They also lamented that the decision was taken in the absence of a fair hearing.

In its sentence the Tribunal acknowledged the possibility "that during the course of the application the applicant was given the impression that his proposal could have been acceptable as long as the necessary studies were conducted."

It also recognised that the applicant paid part of the expense involved in these studies.

But the appeal was turned down on a point of procedure.

According to the Tribunal although the letter communicating the MEPA board's interpretation of the local was effectively a decision, as it clearly told the developer that the development he was proposing cannot take place, the applicant can only present an appeal following a final decision by the MEPA board on this project.

According to the tribunal the applicant should have finalised the process of the application and should have appealed after the board turned down the application. 

The Ta' Cenc saga

The original idea to develop Ta'Cenc can be traced back to the late 1980s

The Structure Plan policy on Ta' Cenc limits development to the "vicinity of the hotel" - an hour's walk from Mgarr ix-Xini, where 38 villas are being now proposed.

But the developers claim that the zoning of the project, including the villas at Mgarr ix-Xini, was carried out following discussions and "understandings" with MEPA.

The developer's EIS suggests that MEPA officials had endorsed development at Mgarr ix-Xini, when they selected this area as one of the eight management zones of the project - zones designated for heritage or tourism purposes.

In November 2005, the developers presented their plans for a heritage park, a new hotel, 49 villas in the vicinity of the hotel and 58 villas at Mgarr ix-Xini. An agro tourism or golf course project was postponed to Phase 2 of the project.

In the latest proposal the number of new villas at Mgarr ix-Xini was reduced to 15.

When Minister George Pullicino finally approved the local plan in August 2006, the green lobby rose up in arms, alleging that its ambiguous wording paved the way for the Mgarr ix-Xini villas.

It was in reaction to this outcry that - for the first time ever - the government gave a clear indication that Mgarr ix-Xini was out of bounds for the developers.

Minister George Pullicino wrote a letter to the MEPA chairman in September 2006 giving his own interpretation of the local plan, basically that no development should take place in Mgarr ix-Xini.