Planning Authority rejects electricity supply request for Gnejna boathouses

The Planning Authority has turned down an application by Enemalta for the provision of electricity to the irregularly developed boathouses at Gnejna.

Enemalta was proposing the digging of a 200-metre trench from an existing car park to the boathouses.

The case officer who recommended the rejection of the application flagged five pending enforcement notices against “numerous boathouses and beach rooms” in the area issued between 1997 and 2006.

Moreover, two applications to regularise the development presented in 2004 were both rejected by the Authority. Therefore according to the case officer the development in the area cannot be considered to be “legitimate” as it is thus in breach of the SPED, which requires development in rural areas to be “legitimate and necessary.”

The development was also opposed by the Environment and Resources Authority, which insisted that the provision of electricity to “illegal development” in a Natura 2000 site is of “significant environmental concern.”