Planning Authority to appeal against review tribunal decisions

The Planning Authority will be appealing decisions taken by Environment and Planning Review Tribunal before the Court of Appeals, it said in a statement on Friday.

The four cases concern the enforcement notices issued by the Authority against the owners the former Mistra Village Holiday Complex in Xemxija and the former Jerma Palace, the refusal of planning permissions for the development of a tourist village at Hondoq ir-Rummien and the development of warehouses on ODZ land in Kirkop.

Both the Jerma Palace and Mistra Village enforcement orders were overturned by the Tribunal over what be technical errors in way enforcement orders had been issued.

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The PA said it had issued enforcement notices on the two sites back in 2016 in which it had noted that these two large sites, both in prominent locations, had been left “abandoned and in disarray” for years and had become “an injury to the amenity”.

“The Authority, through the enforcement notice, had requested the land owners to address the injury to amenity that is resulting from the abandoned state of the structures on site,” the PA said. 

The PA will also be appealing against the tribunal’s decision which will require the authority to draw up a fresh case officer’s report to include new plans by the developers looking to develop a holiday complex including a hotel, tourist village and yacht marina at Hondoq ir-Rummien.

Read also: Gaffarena wins permit to build warehouses over 2,800 square metres of Kirkop agricultural land

The application was unanimously rejected by the PA board in 2016, following a 14-year battle by opponents of the development. However on Thursday, the tribunal upheld an appeal by the developers, who argued that their right to a fair hearing had been denied.

“The Board had cited that the project goes counter to the SPED's vision for Gozo, that of being an ecological Island,” said the PA.

Finally it also noted that the planning board had also refused planning permission for the construction of over 30 warehouses on ODZ land in Luqa, and would be appealing the decision to grant permission by the tribunal.