Dingli road saga: PA rejects villa extension

The Planning Authority has rejected a request from a real estate company to add a pool and paving to a Dingli villa, located outside development zones at the intersection between Sqaq il-Mużew.

The site is where a new road was controversially developed last year by Infrastructure Malta without any planning permit, despite week-long protests by Moviment Graffitti and residents.

The development has been outrightly refused because the proposed pool was deemed inappropriate in an Area of Archaeological Importance, which serves as a buffer zone for a medieval chapel within the area.

An additional receded floor on top of the villa was also deemed to be in breach of planning rules requiring an adequate transition to the development zone.

The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage objected to any excavations on the site.

The two-storey villa, belonging to Victor Bonavia, was approved just outside the development zones, at the edge of Sqaq il-Mużew in 2018. The site currently consists of agricultural land.

Originally the PA’s planning commission had refused the application, arguing that development in the rural area was unjustified. But the EPRT appeals tribunal, then chaired by present PA chairman Martin Saliba, approved it as an “end of scheme” development, arguing it would upgrade the area by eliminating a blank party wall.

Subsequently, in January 2022 the now-rejected request for a receded floor and ODZ pool area was presented by ICI Ltd, a real estate company owned by Keith Attard Portughes, which now owns the whole site.

PA rejects stores along new road

In May the PA had also rejected another application by Bonavia for a 20sq.m agricultural store along the new road, as a replacement for another room immediately next to the medieval chapel on the land expropriated by Infrastructure Malta.

Both the Environment and Resources Authority, and the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage had objected. The ERA warned demolition and relocation of the rural structures next to the chapel could increase pressure on new buildings along the new road. The SCH said the chapel rested on and was buttressed by the room proposed for demolition.

An appeal has already been presented by Bonavia, citing a “pre-contract agreement” with Infrastructure Malta to relocate the stores expropriated on the other side of the road. But the PA insists that even if such an agreement exists, it is not bound by it because legally its role is to ensure that any development conforms to established planning policies and rules.