LNG objector guilty of illegal development

Ray Bugeja, the Marsaxlokk fishing community leader who last week filed a court application calling on MEPA to desist from taking a decision about the LNG storage facility, was found guilty of illegally building a room and swimming pool in a property he owns in the same locality.

In March 2011, MEPA had rejected Bugeja’s application to build the room and swimming pool as the property at Triq it-Torri was outside the development zone.

The refusal was based on the fact that the proposal ran counter to the adopted policy for development outside built-up areas limiting development ODZ to a maximum floorspace of 150 square metres. Furthermore, the construction of a swimming pool was not in line with the terms of hard landscaping.

Bugeja argued that the property was developed in a small hamlet and that the proposed extension was completely surrounded by other development. Yet MEPA’s Board of Review refused the application, saying the applicant was interchanging the terms 'floorspace' and 'footprint', which are clearly distinct.

Moreover the local plan did not recognise the area as a rural settlement, and even if it did, such an argument does not give a carte blanche to develop open spaces between buildings in outside-development-zones (ODZ) as this gives rise to urbanisation and over-development of an area characterised by open fields.

However Bugeja ignored the refusal and went ahead with the development.

MEPA issued an enforcement notice against the illegal development, yet in August 2012, Bugeja filed a court application requesting the sanctioning of his illegally constructed swimming pool and room in the back garden of his property.

Mr Justice Mark Chetcuti today ruled that MEPA had correctly interpreted the policy paper regarding the development at Triq it-Torri. “Disagreeing with a policy does not mean that MEPA is interpreting the policy badly”, the judge said.

The Court threw out Ray Bugeja’s request to sanction the illegal construction and ordered him to pay all case related expenses.

Lawyer Robert Abela appeared on behalf of MEPA.