Portelli’s Nadur ‘store’ now gets a platform

The daughter of Gozitan construction magnate Joseph Portelli has now applied to regularise a concrete platform, built four months after the Planning Authority issued her with a permit for a ‘store’ and also sanctioned illegally-built rubble walls.

The 20sq.m “agricultural store” belonging to registered farmer Chloe Portelli, the daughter of Mercury House developer Joseph Portelli has already expanded through the creation of a 20sq.m concrete platform.

The store approved by the Planning Authority in February is located on a 23,000sq.m plot of land owned by Portelli in the vicinity of the Kennuna tower in Nadur, from which one can enjoy idyllic views of Malta and Comino.

In February the PA regularised the construction of a long stretch of highly visible rubble walls on the same site, after imposing a €1,200 fine. The site of the rubble walls is a continuous stretch of open terraced land known as il-Ġebel l-Aħmar on the southern countryside of Nadur, facing the village of Għajnsielem, and is highly visible from various surrounding areas. The Gozo and Comino local plan shows the area designated as an Area of High Landscape Sensitivity. The Superintendence for Cultural Heritage had also warned that the unbroken band of high rubble walls is resulting in a visual intrusion within a significant cultural and rural landscape.

Apart from sanctioning the concrete platform in front of the newly constructed store, Portelli’s new application also seeks to regularise the deposit of soil on a 1,485sq.m. parcel of land.

The case officer’s report had originally justified the new store because it would be serving a stretch of registered arable land in Nadur of over 18 tumolo. Chloe Portelli had submitted proof that she works this parcel of land in the form of photographic evidence showing the site is being cultivated together with agricultural receipts.

Originally Portelli had applied for a 40-sq.m store but this was reduced in size to en-sure that it fulfils the criteria set in the rural policy. As approved the store was to be constructed in recycled stone and fitted with timber-painted green apertures.

Prophetically, in its objection to the store the Environment and Resources Authority had warned that further applications would follow to extend and amend the development “to create a structure which is better suited for residential purposes”.