Despite the objections of more than a thousand people – one of the highest ever number of objections against a development project in Gozo – the Planning Authority (PA) has recommended approval of a large, imposing block of flats on the edge of Nadur overlooking a valley. The case is on the agenda of the planning commission for this Wednesday 15 December.
The Planning Directorate justified its decision partly by saying that “the density of the apartments would still be imposed if the development was proposed on a plot by plot basis.” This is bizarre and preposterous, and exposes the attitude of a planning authority that is either defeatist or accommodating, but certainly not a planner.
The NGOs disagree that the large, imposing building, which will dominate the view from miles around, is in conformity with the framework of policies. Moreover, the application should not have reached this stage if the PA had observed provisions of the Development Planning Act on certification of ownership that’s a prerequisite to development applications. The problem is that in this case, as in several others in Gozo which belong to certain people, the PA has become blind of its obligation under the law when ownership is contentious.
In this case, a company called Carravan Company Limited (owned by six Stagno Navarra siblings, the lawyer Carmelo Galea and the Montebello family) entered into emphyteutic lease on the land with the medieval foundation called Fondazzjoni ta Sant Antonio Delli Navarra. The planning application was then put in by Victor Hili of Titan Developments Limited, who declared to be “an owner of the entire site.”
Four individuals then sent letters to the Planning Authority declaring that they are owners of parcels within the site. Victor Hili then amended the application form and declared, in the amended application form, that he is authorized to carry out such development through an agreement with the owner.
After accepting his amended application, the PA then made a further logical twist by arguing in the Case Officer Report that ownership issues are beyond its remit.
The application should have been dismissed over the fact that the applicant has not certified to the level required by law this point on ownership. The NGOs have now gone to court to challenge the PA’s looseness with the law in this regard. In a judicial protest written by Dr Philip Manduca and filed last Friday, the NGOs laid out the legal context and case law that should have led to this development application to be dismissed.
The signatory NGOs are now requesting that the PA immediately dismisses this application, and are holding the PA and members of the planning board in front of which the case is scheduled to be heard responsible for any non-observance of the law.
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