Court upholds Planning Authority appeal against Tribunal decisions

The Court of Appeals has ruled in favour of the Planning Authority (PA) in its appeal against decisions taken by the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal (EPRT) last month.

The cases will now re-appear before the Tribunal for a final decision.

The four cases concerned the enforcement notices issued by the Authority against the sites of the former Mistra Village Holiday Complex in Xemxija and the former Jerma Palace, the deschedule of a site known as Ta' Dmejrek in Siggiewi and the refusal of planning permissions for the development of warehouses on ODZ land in Kirkop.

“The Court decided that the Planning Authority had properly followed the legislative procedures in issuing the enforcement notices and with the descheduling of a site,” the PA said, adding that the court had also ruled that the PA’s refusal decision against planning permission was correct.

Earlier this year, the EPRT struck down a decision by the PA and upheld a request by the Siggiewi local council against the descheduling of a quarry site known as Ta’ Dmejrek.

The tribunal had also uphled an appeal by the owners of both the Jerma and Mistra sites and annuled the PA’s enforcement orders.

“In 2016, the Planning Authority had issued enforcement notices (ECF392/16 and ECF389/16) on both these large sites which have been left abandoned and in disarray for years resulting in becoming an injury to the amenity,” the PA said, adding that it had, through an enforcement notice requested that the land owners address the “injury to amenity that is resulting from the abandoned state of the structures on site”.

The Tribunal had also reversed a planning decision and granted permission for the development of warehouses on ODZ land.

“In 2016, the Planning Board had also refused planning permission for the construction of over 30 warehouses in the rural area of Kirkop,” it added.