FAA slams PA on Lija development approval

“The Planning Authority seems determined to ruin the streetscape and quality of life of Lija, one of the last towns that has not been scarred by the uglification of Malta.”

In a statement, Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar (FAA) criticised the PA’s decision to recommend approval of application PA 01692/16 to build 27 apartments on a single virgin plot.

FAA pointed out that the DC 2015 policy had been touted as an enlightened planning guidance document, but was instead repeating the mistakes of the Pullicino regulations which had destroyed many of Malta’s traditional village cores by allowing four- our five-floor development in Urban Conservation Areas.

“As usual the PA is granting the developers the extra rights accorded by DC 2015, while ignoring policies that protect residents, such as the transition solutions immediately outside villa/bungalow areas stipulated by DC 2015. 

“The principle tenet of DC 2015 that the height and facade of new buildings should reflect its context is being completely ignored by the PA,” FAA said.

It questioned why the application was being decided in record time, just three weeks from public submissions, where a similar application in Sliema had been ongoing since 2009.  

The PA case officer reported that the 30 metre limit of development from the street was being exceeded by two metres but actually justified this excessive encroachment on the grounds that due to future encroachment “hardly any open space will be left”.

FAA said that in itself was all the more reason to ensure the legal limits were respected immediately and cited as an example a development in Balzan that had been brought to a halt because it encroached beyond the legal limit. 

“Why all the differences with this case?  Could it be due to the well-connected developer, Joseph Portelli?  The involvement of architect, Joe Bondin is to be noted, as this architect had faced legal action over two separate cases of lack of ethics in architectural projects,” FAA’s statement read.

It said that, in one case, a magistrate had claimed that the authorities violated his fundamental human rights when they expropriated land he owned in St Julian’s in order to accommodate developers. 

In an other case in Zebbug, Gozo, FAA had highlighted serious irregularities in MEPA’s processing of applications submitted by the same architect.  Joe Bondin had also been involved in the Wied il-Ghasel case. 

FAA said that a blatant conflict of interest was again manifesting itself with practicing architects once again dominating PA boards.

“With its growing hostility towards eNGOs, the Planning Authority is returning to the worst practices that had earned it the public perception of being the most corrupt authority in Malta.

“In its adamant refusal to deal with issues of over-development, traffic generation, and rights to light and sun, the Planning Authority and the Office of the Prime Minister that runs it, are responsible for ruining the quality of life of residents in Malta’s urban areas,” it said.