Campsite owner wants to extend Mellieha site by 4,000 square metres

An extension of 4,018 square metres of land to an existing campsite is being proposed at l-Ahrax tal-Mellieha.

The site is a scheduled buffer zone to a site of ecological importance as well as an area of high landscape value, and is separated from the existing campsite by a number of fields and greenhouses near Triq Dahlet ix-Xmajjar.

Plans foresee the installation of a 2.5-metre perimeter metal fence partly covered by a rubble wall, an entrance gate, and the planting of shrubs to screen the new development. The fields will be levelled with gravel.

MEPA has yet to issue a screening letter informing the applicant whether the development can be permitted under existing policies.

The present campsite was approved in 2001 and extended in 2010. A landscaping plan for the existing campsite was approved in 2013.

Vincent Vella, the owner of the nearby campsite on private land, presented the application which was filed by architect Robert Sarsero, who also serves on MEPA’s Tribunal for Environment and Planning Review. That tribunal decides on appeals against decisions taken by MEPA boards.    

After the MEPA reform of 2010, members of MEPA’s appeals board were hired on a full-time basis to avoid perceived conflicts of interest. But after the 2013 election members of this board started being appointed on a part-time basis. Sarsero himself has filed applications for an old people’s home on ODZ land in Santa Lucija and for another old people’s home in the area of the Mtarfa Isolation hospital, which is also partly ODZ.