Tourism project proposed on site of irregular Gudja ‘restaurant’

The owner of an illegal restaurant in Gudja is seeking the Malta Environment and Planning Authority’s green light to designate guidelines for a ‘tourism development’ he wants built on the surrounding fields he has at Dawret il-Gudja.

Anton Scicluna, whose restaurant was slapped with a MEPA enforcement notice but remains open for private functions, has a legal title on the land through a lease from the government. In 2012, MEPA had issued an enforcement order against the use of the farmhouse on the site as a bar and restaurant.

The land itself, in the vicinity of the Bir Miftuh chapel, was include in the extension of the development boundaries of 2006, carried out by the Nationalist administration.

But Scicluna’s new plans for the land also carry the official stamp and signature of Raymond Camilleri, the former director of the Government Property Division, which were signed in August 2015.

Under normal procedures, the GPD does not issue its consent to development on public land before a planning permit is issued. Developers are only expected to inform the GPD of their planning applications with the understanding that consent is issued after MEPA approval. 

This policy was confirmed by a government spokesperson to MaltaToday back in May 2014: “The normal practice followed by the GPD, whenever development applications are made by the private sector for development on public land, is that the GPD is given the necessary mandatory notice. The GPD will then await the outcome of such an application.”

Restaurant owner Anton Scicluna insisted that he was following existing procedures by seeking the Lands Department’s consent. 

He defended the legality of the use of his farmhouse for what he calls “private functions”, insisting that it is not a restaurant.

Queries sent to the Office of the Prime Minister on whether the official stamp of the GPD signifies approval of the plans submitted to MEPA, were not answered by the time of going to print.

The site in question includes a number of planning irregularities. An enforcement notice dating back to 2012 was issued against OSA Services Ltd because of the use of a farmhouse as a restaurant and a bar. It also refers to illegally constructed rooms, ovens, stores, pavements and cages.

The present application presented by OSA Limited, the company owned by Oswald and Anton Scicluna, is a request for development parameters in which MEPA sets the building heights and the kind of development which can be allowed in the area.

MaltaToday is informed that a number of Gudja residents and farmers in the area met this week and appointed Carmel Cacopardo in his capacity as an architect to present their objections to the proposed development.

The Sciclunas’ plans envision a mixed-use commercial building which includes “touristic oriented activities” over two floors, and a semi-basement on part of the site. 40% of the site will be kept undeveloped. 

The application refers to the development of a Class 3A development (guesthouses) and 3C development (leisure activities like gyms and theatres). The development will also include a picnic area and a parking area.

Anton Scicluna told MaltaToday he was aiming at developing a “family park” that would include gardens and leisure facilities for the public. He said he had followed all the required procedures since the development would be partly located on public land, for which he needed the GPD’s consent. “In the process of our application we have to consult various government entities and the GPD was one of the entities we consulted.”

Scicluna shrugged off the pending enforcements against the change of use of his farmhouse to a “restaurant”, replying that he only takes bookings for private functions, for which he has a permit.