Mellieħa hotel planned by former magistrate Carol Peralta faces refusal

Former magistrate Carol Peralta is slated to have plans for a 118-room hotel, outside Mellieħa development zones (ODZ), refused by the Planning Authority, with a case officer recommending refusal.

A public hearing has yet to be set for the final decision on the hotel on Peralta’s land, which lies on Triq Marfa next to the Omm il-Ħniena cemetery, opposite the Luna Hotel.

The hotel would grow to six floors, apart a 38-space underground car park, all over the 5,500sq.m plot that Peralta has full ownership of. A previous application for a hotel on the same site had been submitted by developer Mark Gaffarena back in 2008, but then withdrawn.

As an ODZ development, the PA’s case officer said such commercial development was not justified and was also in breach of the Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development (SPED) which only allows rural development that has to be legitimate or necessary.

Peralta’s plan would also be in breach of the Northwest Local Plan policies protecting agricultural land, while part of the land in question is already reserved for future cemetery expansion.

Over 300 people have objected to the hotel, including the Mellieħa local council, as well as the Environment and Resources Authority and the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage.

Judge Peralta’s business plans are a colourful addition to a career as a member of the judiciary, in which he survived two impeachment motions, newspaper reveals on his masonic ties, as well as recently taking up the mantle to represent disgraced Labour minister Konrad Mizzi as lawyer. Peralta also spent 13 years on the bench at the UN war crimes tribunal in Kosovo.