ERA objects to Portelli’s bid to regularise illegal ODZ swimming pools

The Environmental and Resources Authority (ERA) is objecting to a bid by Excel Investments Ltd, a company owned by construction magnate Joseph Portelli and his business partner Mark Agius, to regularise two massive illegal ODZ pools in Qala next to an apartment block along Triq ta' Kassja and Triq il-Wardija.

The two massive pools one of 414 sq.m and another of 267 sq.m are presently subject to a planning enforcement issued by the Planning Authority (PA)  after the law courts had overturned a previous permit for the construction of the pools in March. The application filed by architect Alex Bigeni also foresees the sanctioning of a fish pond and extensive landscaping around the pools.

In its objection ERA reminded the PA that it had already objected to the ODZ development proposed in four different planning applications connected to this development before it was approved.

“ERA reiterates its objection to all the interventions located Outside Development Zone,” the authority said in a formal objection presented to the PA yesterday.

ERA does not have a final say on whether the sanctioning of the pools is accepted or not as such decisions fall under the remit of the PA’s decision making boards.

The swimming pools form part of a 164-apartment block at the edge of the development zone approved through three different applications presented in 2019.

The massive pools entirely located on nearly 700 sq.m of  ODZ land were approved through another application filed in 2021 and approved during the 2022 electoral campaign. This application also envisaged the sanctioning of the excavations beyond previously approved levels.

The permit was granted against the recommendation of the case officer, and the decision was also later confirmed by the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal (EPRT).

But in March permit was annulled by the court earlier this year following a successful appeal by Moviment Graffitti and the Qala local council. In his decision chief justice Mark Chetcuti concluded that the swimming pools were approved in breach of existing policies.

While the permit was granted on the strength of a generic policy that permits swimming pools in the ODZ areas, the law courts concluded that their approval was in violation of specific policies applicable to the site. 

By applying to sanction the illegal pools, the developers can delay enforcement action which normally has to wait for the outcome of the application. Enforcement could also be further delayed by appeals if the PA refuses the application. 

In June Moviment Graffitti activists had carried out a direction action at developer Joseph Portelli’s illegal site, spray painting the pools with the words “illegali” (illegal)

The activists stormed the site, temporarily occupied it, and carried out actions to draw attention to the fact that people like Joseph Portelli, and other developers, are systematically being allowed by “government, politicians and authorities to wreak havoc on our country with absolute impunity.”